This is my world, Earthland
by Callidus-Neuro
Summary: What if Lucy was a powerful, dimension hopping wizard? Like how everything starts, Lucy meets Natsu and Happy at Hargeon town. But when he takes her to the guild, she already has a guild mark. It turns out that she joined Fairy Tail in a different world! But that isn't all. Lucy hides a darker secret, a one she doesn't want anyone to know. Lucy x Erza endgame. YURI
1. Everything starts here

**Hello everyone! I'm new to the Fairy Tail fandom and I'm really happy to write a fanfiction for such a great fandom. **

**This is something I came up with when I thought that Lucy deserves way more coolness and credit than she gets in canon. And also, I'm a sucker for Yuri so... This fic will loosely follow canon but the events will be different and most from Lucy's perspective.**

**This may seem confusing at the beginning but I promise that everything will be explained all in due time.**

**WARNING: This is a Lucy x Erza fic so please back away if you're not interested.**

* * *

"This is Earthland. It looks a lot like our last world doesn't it?" A blonde girl commented, her calculating brown eyes taking in her surroundings. She was rather young and looked to be around 17 years old. Her body was tall, lean and well-muscled- a result of years of training- and her skin was on the slightly pale side. She was wearing a pair of black combat trousers, a dark blue t shirt with 'Happiness!' written on it and a long sleeveless coat that was left unbuttoned. On her feet, she wore a pair of crimson converse and had a slim black headphone placed over her ears.

"Lucy, this doesn't look anything like our last world. Our last world was mostly dark and depressing, remember?" A silver haired girl who was roughly the size of a small hand replied. The girl was wearing the same clothes as Lucy except without the headphone and the coat. Of course, the clothes were tiny to suit her body size. The miniature girl then giggled, her hazel eyes twinkling with mirth as she flew over to directly hover in front of Lucy's face. "The old age must be getting to your memory, _Lucy-obaasan_."

Lucy plucked the girl out of the air by her collar and placed the girl gently on her shoulder.

"I'm only 17, Ria. And I didn't mind the dark. The sunlight irritates my eyes."

Ria pouted and folded her arms. "Mou, you're so boring to tease! You never react to my insults Lucy. What's the fun in that?" Lucy's quirked her lips into a small smile and remained silent. She was already used to her friend's special brand of 'fun' and was wise enough not to retort back. Besides, she was in a particularly good mood and she wanted to bask in the feeling for as long as possible without being distracted by a fight with Ria. Although their bickering was mostly harmless, it did have the tendency to escalate at an alarming rate if they didn't control themselves.

Lucy walked through the streets of Hargeon town, taking in the beautiful scenery and the hustle of merry people chatting. She felt a strong wave of nostalgia hitting her like a tidal wave and it took all her efforts to stop herself from doing something incredibly embarrassing and stupid in the middle of the streets. Besides the occasional shout from a passer-by, it was a peaceful atmosphere and that was something Lucy could definitely get used to. God knew she needed some peace in her life after what she'd been through. Ria had fallen asleep a few minutes ago so Lucy had tucked Ria into her breast pocket. Her friend had a tendency to sleep like a rock and Lucy was always amazed, if not slightly envious, that Ria seemed to be able to sleep even in the most chaotic environment. After a moment of debate, she decided to start heading towards the direction of the Hargeon station but before she could begin proceeding to her chosen destination, she heard two excited girls exclaiming that the famous wizard 'Mr Salamander' was in town. At first, she merely rolled her eyes, simply dismissing the conversation as crazy fan-girl speculation. However, as she spotted more people running in the same direction with the same look of excitement, her eyes widened slightly in recognition. _Could it be…_

She quickly chased after the girls; her mind and heart were racing at the prospect of meeting her friend once again despite the fact that the friend in question probably wouldn't have met her yet in this world. The girls Lucy was chasing led her to a large crowd that was gathered in front of a majestic building. She pushed through the crowd to see the figure standing in the middle only to find a strange blue haired man posing and basking in the fan-girls' screams. Lucy immediately noticed the rings on his finger and deduced that he was probably controlling the crowd with one of them. Mostly likely a charm spell. She inwardly scoffed at the man who was using her friend's alias and sighed when she felt disappointment washing over her- she had gotten her hopes up for nothing. _I don't have time for this. _

Just as she was about the leave, a pink haired boy pushed through the crowd, shouting the name 'Igneel'. Lucy froze in her tracks as a small grin took over her face. _Natsu-san! And Happy-san as well. I missed them so much. _

Natsu tilted his head with a frown as he looked at the blue haired guy. "Who the hell are you?" Lucy watched as a crowd of furious women proceeded to kick and trample over Natsu. This happened once again when he refused to accept the fake Salamander's signature. Lucy watched the scene with a small amount of pity. Once the crowd was gone, Lucy discreetly approached Natsu who sat dejectedly on the cold stone ground. She offered him a hand and smiled softly when he looked up.

"Hi. I'm Lucy," She offered. Natsu took her hand and pulled himself up, dusting off any visible dirt.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel. And this is my friend Happy," he said. Lucy smiled as Happy did a little twirl in the air, shouting something about fish. She was tempted to say 'I know' but refrained because that would just cause them to be suspicious of her. Before she could say anything though, a long growl interrupted their conversation. Natsu scratched his neck as he rubbed his stomach with a forlorn expression.

"…want to get some food? It'll be on me," Lucy said, sending Natsu an understand grin. Immediately, she was tackled by the dragon slayer and Happy who both had tears in their eyes.

"I'm so hungry, I could die!" Natsu exclaimed tearfully.

Happy nodded and chirped in, "Aye!"

000

"So, are you wizards?" Lucy asked, casually evading her head from the onslaught of bones and bits of food that were flying towards her face. Natsu was stuffing himself with at least six chicken legs at the same time while Happy was content with his plate of fish.

"Yeh, weer in a guild 'alled Faiweey Tail," Natsu slurred, his mouth still full of chicken meat. Happy added an enthusiastic 'Aye!' before turning his attention back to his fish. Lucy smiled to herself. _These two never change. I'm so glad they're exactly the same in Earthland. _

Lucy decided to play along, "Heh…you're in Fairy Tail? I hear that you guys always cause trouble in your missions."

Natsu scowled, "We always finish our jobs, even if it means destroying a house or two."

Lucy suppressed her grin, completely sympathising with the sentiment, and nodded. "Well said. But about Fairy Tail…you see, I'm a wizard too and I would like you to take me to your guild. Would that be okay?"

Natus paused before grinning widely. "Sure thing, since you were nice enough to buy us food. We were heading back to the guild anyway now that we know Salamander isn't Igneel."

"Right. Whilst you finish eating your food, I'll be waiting outside," Lucy said and placed some notes on the table before walking out of the restaurant. Once she was on the streets, she entered a nearby shop and bought a copy of Sorcerer Weekly. She settled on a bench and flipped the magazine open. Inside the magazine were gossips on certain guilds as well as interviews with some well-known guild masters. There was also an article about how a member of Fairy Tail had destroyed seven homes and had wiped out the Devon Bandit Clan. From reading the article, Lucy safely deduced that the member was none other than Natsu. Towards the back were full page pictures of Mirajane wearing skimpy swimsuits. Lucy was proud that she only drooled for five seconds before she moved on.

"Fairy Tail is the same as always. I'm glad…" Lucy muttered. She then sighed as she felt the presence of the man from before. Even without trying, she could clearly distinguish his presence from the other passer-byes'. "Come out," she said, without taking her eyes off from her magazine. The man came out from the bush he was hiding from.

"As I expected, you are a mage and quite a sharp one at that. I heard that you want to join Fairy Tail. I can recommend you to our master as long as you come with me to attend my party. How about it? It's a win-win situation," the creepy man offered with a gag-inducing smile. If Lucy wasn't so preoccupied with reading her magazine, she most likely would have done something to make sure he would never be able to smile again.

"No," Lucy said immediately, since she knew already that the guy was bluffing. The man narrowed his eyes menacingly, a gesture that did not escape the blonde mage. Before he could do anything, Lucy shot out of her seat, grabbed him by his neck and teleported him to the middle of the sea. She knew that he would be just fine and made sure that the impact would not kill him. Just then, Natsu and Happy exited from the restaurant with Natsu patting his belly in satisfaction.

"Ah, that definitely hit the spot. Thanks Lucy! Now that I've eaten, I'm all revved up," he said, igniting himself on fire. He turned to Lucy with a grin. "Let's go to Fairy Tail, Lucy, Happy!"

"Aye sir!"

"I won't let you!" shouted a familiar voice. All three mages turned, staring as the man from earlier stood in front of them, completely soaked to the bone. He was glaring intensely at the blonde mage and didn't seem to be too happy about his current state. Lucy sighed. _What a persistent man. I think I'll let Natsu-san handle this one. _

The fake 'Salamander' growled at them with narrowed eyes; he was attempting to be threatening but with his hair matted to his face like wet seaweed, it had the opposite effect and made him look rather comical. He had a furious expression on his face. "How dare you, you wench! You're not getting out of this alive! Prominence whip!"

With a wave of his hands, dark pink tendrils of light shot out from a magic circle and headed towards Lucy. She dodged each one of them with ease and Natsu did the same. The light crashed into houses behind and set some on fire. Natsu scowled.

"I don't know what's going on but I won't just let you go after you tried to hurt my friends!" he said, and breathed in the fire from the houses. The fake Salamander paled at the display. "Fire Dragon roar!" A big wave of flame came out from his mouth and engulfed the fake Salamander completely. Unfortunately, in the process, a few more houses were set on fire and the residents inside all ran out whilst screaming hysterically. Lucy felt slightly bad for laughing at them but she couldn't help but be amused at the scene. Looking at the destruction he had caused once again, Natsu grabbed Lucy and sped away to the station. "Come on! We're going to Fairy Tail now!"

"By train?" Lucy asked with a small smirk, knowing that Natsu was weak with transportations. Just as she had expected, Natsu's pace faltered and he sheepishly scratched his cheek.

"Um…Happy, could you take us there?"

Happy looked appalled at the suggestion. "That's impossible, Natsu! I can only carry one of you and it too far away. We'll have to take the train back to Magnolia." At this, Natsu deflated. Lucy hid a smile.

"It's okay. I can teleport all of us there," Lucy spoke up, feeling a little sorry for Natsu.

Natsu and Happy looked at her in surprise. "You can do that?" the pink haired boy asked. Lucy nodded and grabbed them with each hand.

"Let's go!"

The world blurred for a second and when their visions settled once again, they were in the town of Magnolia, with Fairy Tail standing only a few hundred of meters away in the distance. Lucy took a moment to simply stare at the building and once again felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her. _Damn, even the building is exactly the same. _Soon enough, Natsu snapped out of his stunned state, grabbed her arm and pulled her towards Fairy Tail's headquarters. When they arrived, the boy pushed open the doors with a loud, energetic greeting.

"I'm back!" he shouted. Lucy stood still as she watched everyone greet Natsu back with equal vigor.

"Who's that young lady you brought back?" a girl with white hair asked. She seemed to be the barmaid, from looking at how she was wiping a glass behind the counter. Lucy smiled widely as she took in the sight of the familiar face. She had greatly missed Mirajane.

"She asked me to take her here. I'm not really sure why though," Natsu replied.

"Oi, oi. What if she's a spy from a rival guild, you flame-brain!" shouted a dark haired boy. He only wore his underwear and was giving Natsu a glare. Natsu glared back, just as intense.

"You wanna have a go at me, you ice-breath? Bring it on!"

What next ensued could only be described as a messy tangle of limbs with fire and ice added into the mix. The spectators seemed unfazed by this occurrence and simply ignored the two while some cheered them on with a jolly laugh. Lucy inwardly rolled her eyes fondly. _Looks like Natsu-san and Gray-san just never get along, no matter which world. _She approached the white haired girl, Mirajane and stuck out her right hand.

"I would like to officially join this guild," Lucy said. Mirajane looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean 'officially'?" she then glanced at the back of Lucy's hand that was offered. Mirajane almost dropped the glass she was holding and stared at Lucy in shock. Etched onto the back of the blonde's hand was the Fairy Tail's mark in silver.

"You're…already in this guild? But I don't have any record of you joining. Who exactly are you?" Mirajane asked, her voiced raised slightly. This drew the attention of everyone in the guild. Even Natsu and Gray broke apart to stare at her with solemn expressions. Just then, Lucy's breast pocket rustled and Ria popped her head out with a sleepy expression.

"What's going on? Did you get into trouble again Lucy?" Ria mumbled. This was followed by a deafening silence. Then, chaos ensued.

"A tiny girl?!"

"What the hell is that? A doll?"

"Is that a human girl? How is this possible?"

"A flying cat and now a human girl who's smaller than my hand. I need more alcohol."

Lucy sighed. She had predicted this would happen but she still dreaded having to explain why she already had the guild's mark. Not to mention that judging from everyone's reactions, Earthland didn't have any Elflings.

"Quiet!" Lucy turned to see where the shout had come from. Everyone froze and turned their heads to the counter where a small old man stood, holding a long stick. He levelled a stern gaze at Lucy. "You will explain everything. Until I have confirmed that you are not here to bring harm to my children, I will not allow you to leave."

Lucy nodded. She looked down at Ria who now seemed to be wide awake and alert. _Good, I need Ria to help me explain. Otherwise they might take me for a nutjob._

"I'll explain why I have the guild mark already but I'm not going to include all the details. There are some things I'd rather not talk about ."

Master Makarov nodded. He seemed to understand Lucy's reason. She took a deep breath.

"It's your choice to believe me or not but what I'm about to tell you is the truth. The reason I have the guild mark already is because I joined the Fairy Tail in another world." Lucy let this information sink in. Surprisingly, no one made any sound of protest and the Master simply nodded for her to continue her story. Lucy closed her eyes as she remembered the day her life had taken a drastic change.

000

_I was five years old when my mother died of a weak body. My young self was thrown into despair and grief and everything in the world seemed so sad. My father grew distant and buried himself with work each day and he hardly ever came out of his study. I grew a fondness for books because I was able to pretend that I was in another world where I was the princess who got to live happily ever after with her prince. One day, I ventured into the forbidden part of my father's library because I had ran out of books to read. I searched the shelves for an interesting book but found that all the books were too hard for me to understand. I was about to leave when the book at the very end of the shelf started glowing faintly. _

_I heard a soft whisper in my head. It said to me, "Come, young child of Heartfilia. You are the chosen one. You will open this book that your ancestors were not worthy of opening. Hurry, I have waited centuries to fulfil the promise I have made to Kein Heartfilia. I recognise your power and I deem you worthy to fuse with me. Together, we will be the most powerful force in the world!" _

_My body seemed to move on its own. I cried inside my head. I was scared; I was terrified of this female voice whispering to me. My hand raised and took the book off the shelf. I saw myself opening up the book and then I only remember bright, silver light and excruciating pain. I felt my body going through every possible temperature. One moment, I was writhing with the searing hotness and the next I was almost paralyzed with chill. I felt as if pins were prickling all over my body and spots danced in front of my eyes until finally, pure silver washed over my vision and everything came to a stop. I lay there panting and shaking and all the while, the voice continued its whisper. _

_When the shaking stopped, I felt an indescribable power running through my blood. My body practically hummed with energy and I noticed that I was emitting a silver glow. I wanted to shout for my daddy, for anyone but the voice whispered to me again. "Shhh… No need to be afraid, young child. You will learn to control your powers all in due time. For now, rest."_

_As soon as the voice stopped talking, my vision turned black and I fell unconscious. _

_When I woke up, I found myself in my bedroom, tucked into my bed. Sitting next to the bed was one of the house maids, Lizzy. She was like an older sister to me and always went out of her way to take care of me. She told me that she had found me unconscious in the forbidden library with sweat running down my face. I looked at my hands and realized that the silver glow was gone and I remember thinking, maybe it was a dream. _

_But it wasn't a dream. As soon as Lizzy left, I started glowing again. This time however, I didn't feel any fear. It was as if a wave of calmness had washed over me completely. _

_I won't go into too much detail from this point on but the important fact is that I learned to use the power to my advantage. I was able to somewhat tap into the seemingly endless power residing inside and I no longer feared the voice. In fact, I warmed up to the voice inside my head because she was warm and nice to me and I considered her to be my only friend in the huge mansion. _

_My life continued as before except now I wasn't as lonely as I was before. I still loved my father and tried to get him to notice me. One day, I made a simple lunch for him and entered his study. I expected to see him working behind his desk but instead, I saw shards of glass scattered around my father's desk and my father slumped on it lifelessly. I saw blood trickling from his mouth and I saw a bulky man pulling his sword out of my father's dead body. I dropped the tray of food I was holding, drawing the attention of the man. _

_From this point, I don't remember much. All I remember is me screaming and silver taking over my vision. I felt something cracking and I soon fell unconscious. When I came to, I was once again lying in my bedroom but this time, both my mother and father were standing next to the bed. When I sat up, they hugged me and cried tears of joy, saying that they had thought I was dead. I didn't know what was happening but I knew for sure that it wasn't a dream or a hallucination. It felt too real for that. _

_I asked the voice in my head that I named Shari. Shari remained silent before chuckling and she told me that she had never expected this to happen. She told me that I was in a different world. _

_Once again, I'm going to leave out the details and just say that: yes, I was in a different world. The world was eerily similar to this world almost to the point of being a carbon copy but it had subtle differences. For example, my mother was completely healthy and we were poor. After a year of living with my parents, I couldn't stand the guilt and told them the truth. They surprisingly didn't deny it or call me crazy. They said that they knew I wasn't their real child but wanted to pretend. I bid them goodbye and travelled around until I came across a rumour of Fairy Tail and how it was the strongest guild in Fiore. I then joined your guild…_

000

"…and that's the reason why I already have the guild mark," Lucy finished. She waited for them the call her crazy and insane but everyone remained silent. Most people would laugh at her story and never think twice about it. After all, humans were not very accepting of things that haven't been proven or things that they haven't seen for themselves. However, Fairy Tail was different. Nobody made a hasty judgement and the atmosphere was surprisingly serious for a guild that was well known for their wild parties and rule-breaking tendencies. Lucy felt as if everyone was waiting for the Makarov to make the judgement. The old man in question was currently looking into her eyes to see if she was telling the truth and to see if she would crack under pressure. Lucy steeled her gaze and look back with equal intensity and as much sincerity as she could muster. She had no reason to hide since she was only the truth.

Then, without a warning, Makarov straightened and announced, "I believe you." Immediately, the tense atmosphere seemed to dissipate and everyone visibly relaxed in their positions. Lucy's eyes widened but she soon settled into a small smile.

"I should have known better than to assume the worst, Makarov-san. You always were a good judge of character," Lucy said. Ria flew out of Lucy's pocket to cheer. Makarov squinted at the miniature girl.

"I do have some questions though. First, how did you get back to Earthland and who is that girl? I've never seen anything like her before," said the Master. The rest of Fairy Tail murmured in mutual confusion.

"It took me many tries but eventually, I was able to control when and which world I go to. After what happened to Fairy Tail back in the other world, I decided to come back to my original world to see everyone again. That alone took me four years and here I am now. As for this girl, she's called Ria and she's part of a species in the other world called Elflings. I saved her on a mission and we became close friends ever since."

Makarov took another moment to study Lucy. "I see." He then turned to the rest of the guild and shouted, "Everyone! Lucy and Ria are now officially part of this guild and therefore part of our family. Let's throw a welcome party for them!"

There was a loud shout of agreement and soon the guild was full of life once more. A few guild members approached Lucy to ask more questions and she did her best to answer them. She got Mirajane to stamp a new guild mark on her right hand after erasing the old one as a sign of a fresh start. Ria also erased her old guild mark from her left cheek and got a new one in silver. The mark was smaller to fit Ria's size. Lucy smiled as she took a sip of her beverage. For the first time in ages, Lucy felt at home. _This is where I belong. _

Lucy surveyed the area and frowned when she couldn't see the person she was looking for. She turned to Mirajane. "Mirajane-san."

Mirajane gave Lucy a radiant smile. "Yes? What is it, Lucy?"

Lucy fidgeted slightly under her gaze. "Um…would you know where Erza-san is?" she hoped that she didn't sound like some stalker. Ria giggled from her place and Lucy levelled her with a small glare.

"I believe she's on a mission in another town. Do you need anything from her?" Mirajane asked.

Lucy blushed. "Ah, no. I was just wondering where she was."

Mirajane smiled with a hint of mischief. "Why? Were you close with Erza in the other world?" This question caught Lucy off guard and only made her blush worse.

"Not only were they close, Lucy has a huge cru-_Mpfff," _Ria started but her voice got muffled when Lucy grabbed her stuffed her into her pocket.

"Um…you could say that," Lucy said but paused. She then decided that she might as well tell the truth. "Actually, I kind of have a sort of crush on Erza-san but please don't tell her. I'll tell everyone myself."

At this, the white haired girl seemed a bit surprised, as if she wasn't expecting Lucy to say what she did. Lucy quickly followed this with, "I hope this doesn't bother you, Mirajane-san."

Mirajane shook her head and smiled at Lucy kindly. "No it doesn't. I was just a bit caught off guard. And I'm pretty sure everyone else in the guild wouldn't mind. If the Fairy Tail in the other world is anything like the one in this world, you'll know that everyone is very kind and understanding. You're now part of our family so please don't hesitate to tell us anything."

Lucy smiled in gratification. "Thank you. I will tell Erza-san soon enough." Ria popped out from her pocket with a huff.

"That's wasn't very nice of you, Lucy. I almost choked back there," Ria said with her arms crossed.

"That's what you get for almost revealing a very confidential piece of information which I trusted you with," Lucy replied. Ria rolled her eyes.

"It's hardly confidential, Lucy. A blind goat can see your super crush on Erza from a mile away."

"It's not that obvious," Lucy muttered.

"Which is why everyone in the guild back in the other world realized straight away without you telling them?" Ria questioned sceptically. Before Lucy could say anything back, Mirajane interrupted them with a giggle.

"You two argue like a married couple," Mirajane commented. Lucy almost spat out her drink as she stared at the white haired girl incredulously. Just then, Natsu came along with Happy and plopped onto the seat next to hers.

"Man, Lucy. That was one hell of a story there. Almost makes my Dragon Slayer heritage seem normal," Natsu said. Lucy sent him a wry grin.

"That's hardly a good thing, Natsu-san."

Natsu shrugged, and ordered five plates of food. Lucy watched as he scoffed them down in record time and stood up, looking satisfied. He gave Lucy a smile and offered his hand.

"Let's go on a mission together, Lucy!" Lucy thought about the offer for a moment. Deciding that she might as well, she shrugged and took the offered hand and followed him to the request board. There were many different requests, ranging from finding a lost cat to catching a band of thieves. One of them caught her eyes in particular. It was a strange request to take away an old jar from the client's house and destroy it. The weird thing was that they requested only teenagers around the age of eighteen and the reward was a whopping 1,000,000 jewels for something so simple. Lucy snatched the sheet off the request board and went to Mirajane who noted it down. Natsu and Happy followed, reading the request Lucy had picked.

"Why did you choose this one Lucy?" Ria asked.

"What does it matter? It's an easy job with a large reward. Although I wish it involves beating someone up but oh well," Natsu remarked. Happy nodded.

"Aye! Our food expenses are running out."

Lucy ignored the two of them who were in their own world, dreaming about food and in Happy's case, fish. She took one final glance at the request paper.

"Something about this request just bugs me. I have a feeling that this isn't such a simple mission and that there's something bigger behind it. I smell evil but I hope I'm just being paranoid," Lucy said. Ria looked concerned, knowing that Lucy was right about things like this most of the time. They soon arrived at their destination. The client's house was shabby and small, not something that indicated that the owner could afford to pay 1,000,000 jewels for a simple take-away-and-destroy job. _This is just getting more suspicious. _

They knocked on the door and were greeted by a boy around their age. He wore decent clothing and seemed relieved when he saw their guild marks. _Too relieved, _Lucy thought to herself.

"Hi, come in. You must be here to do the job I requested." The boy led them to the living room where there was a small table and two old looking chairs and a bookshelf. "Please take a seat while I get the jar. By the way, my name's Greg."

Natsu took a seat and leaned his head on his hand, looking incredibly bored. Lucy didn't sit down but explored the living room to see if there was anything out of place. She soon stumbled upon a dusty picture of a smiling family standing in front of a lovely mansion. There was a middle aged couple standing behind two identical looking young boys and both of them strongly resembled their client Greg. Lucy beckoned Natsu over.

"Natsu-san, take a look at this. Isn't this suspicious?" Lucy asked. Natsu stared at the picture intensely.

"I don't get it," he said. Lucy sighed.

"Look at the house in the background. And look at the clothes they're wearing. No matter how you look at it, our client is from a rich family. So why is he living in a shabby place like this all on his own despite being still young?"

Natsu scratched his head. "Now that you mention it, it does seem suspicious. And I've smelt something weird ever since I came in. But it's kind of mixed with Greg's scent so I'm not sure what it is."

Just then, sounds of footstep came from outside the door. Lucy and Natsu quickly moved away from the picture and sat down on the chairs. Soon Greg walked in holding an old looking jar that seemed to be tightly sealed. He handed it over to Natsu who peered at it curiously.

"This is the jar. I would like you to take it and destroy it somewhere far away. I think there's a curse attached to that jar so I'd rather you don't leave any trace of it. Here are your 1,000,000 jewels," Greg said, handing over a sack filled with jewels.

"Is that really all you want us to do?" Lucy asked, watching Greg's body language carefully. The guy seemed anxious, judging from the way he was constantly tapping his feet. Greg nodded resolutely. Lucy shrugged, "Okay."

They left Greg's house with the jar and travelled to a secluded area in the town quite a distance away.

"Alright, let's break this thing!" Natsu said, igniting his fit with fire. Lucy held out her hand and snatched the jar away from the boy.

"Don't break it Natsu-san. This jar is very important evidence," Lucy said but then corrected herself, "Or rather, what's inside the jar is."

"Did you figure everything out, Lucy?" Ria asked excitedly. The girl really loved solving puzzles and unveiling secrets.

"What's going on?" Happy asked. Natsu looked unusually serious as he paid full attention to Lucy.

Lucy opened the lid of the jar and showed the contents of the jar. Inside was a pile of ashy powder. Natsu took a sniff of the powder and seemed to think for a while before his eyes widened with realization. Lucy nodded grimly.

"Natsu-san, what you're thinking is exactly the truth. This powder isn't just any powder. This is the remains of a human body when incinerated. Most likely, Greg killed his older brother, burnt him to a pile of ash and gathered the remained into this jar."

Happy looked stricken and looked at the jar with a horrified face. "Is it true, Natsu?"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah. The weird thing I smelt when I entered the house is probably this. It smells similar to Greg's scent so that's why I couldn't identify what it was. But why would Greg kill his brother?"

"Probably because of inheritance problems. Judging from the picture, Greg is from a rich family and most likely got kicked out due to some reason or other. I'm guessing that his parents have recently died and he killed his older brother to receive the inheritance as the only remaining son. The reason he wanted teenagers around his age is so that he wouldn't draw any unwanted attention from his neighbours by having a middle aged person coming around to his house."

"Looks like you've found out what you shouldn't have," a voice suddenly interrupted. They turned to find Greg standing behind them, holding a long metal pole with a crazy look on his face. "Heh, heh. Now that you know, I can't let you live."

Greg lunged forward with a wild swing of his metal pole. Lucy jumped to avoid the blow and delivered a swift kick to Greg's face before landing, sending him stumbling back. Natsu took this time to light his fist on fire and immediately punched Greg's gut, causing him to fly black and fall unconscious.

"That was too easy," Natsu muttered disappointedly. Lucy agreed but only on the inside.

"In any case, we should take this guy to the council and leave the rest to them," Lucy suggested. Natsu hauled Greg over his shoulder and Happy carried the jar.

Ria perched on Lucy's shoulder and gave a thumbs-up. "I think this is a job well done."

Lucy gave the girl a soft smile. "I couldn't have said it any better."

000

_Dear mother and father in heaven, _

_I am doing well. As I have mentioned in my previous letter, I am finally back in Earthland. I have just visited your graves. I hope that the flowers are to your liking. However, on a different note, I have joined the Earthland's Fairy Tail and I was pleasantly surprised to find that everyone is as warm and kind as they were in the other world. Natsu-san is just as reckless and hot-blooded as ever, Gray-san still strips randomly and Mirajane-san is really understanding. Not to mention that Master Makarov is still short and has next to no hair. I hope that I will meet the Earthland's Erza-san soon and I really hope that she is also the same kind beautiful person I just know she is. I have rented a room in Fairy Hills and I've heard that Erza-san and many of my other female guild mates live there as well. I'm afraid this is it for now. Please take care. _

_With love, Lucy. _


	2. Just barge in

**I'm sorry but Erza doesn't appear in this chapter although I promise she will in the next one.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. WARNING: Yuri! This is the last time I'm going to say this.**

* * *

"This sucks!" Natsu groaned, slamming his head onto the table. Happy was in an equally depressed state next to him; his small shoulders were slumped and his cat ears were flattened against his lowered head. Lucy silently agreed with Natsu. It did suck. After all their work, the 1,000,000 jewels Greg had provided them with weren't even real.

"I suppose we are the ones at fault for thinking they were real despite knowing what kind of house he lived in," Ria mused. Lucy gave her friend a disapproving poke as the air around Natsu and Happy became darker. "…Too soon?" the small girl asked sheepishly. Lucy chuckled at their antics. Unlike Natsu and Happy, money wasn't really a problem for her so she wasn't too bothered with the fake jewels. However, this did not mean that she was heartless and couldn't sympathise with how they were feeling. As financially stable as she was, she didn't appreciate being lied to.

"We can always find another job," Lucy suggested. At once, Natsu sprang up from his seat, his previous depressed state all but a thing of the distant past. He fist pumped into the air.

"Let's go! This isn't time to be depressed. We need to earn some money otherwise we're not getting any food tonight!"

"Aye!" Happy joined in, equally rejuvenated.

Before any further actions could be taken, someone interrupted with a snide comment aimed at Natsu. "What makes you think you're gonna get it right this time? There aren't any cures for idiocy you know."

Natsu sneered, "You think you're so high and mighty don't you? I wipe the floor with you every single time, droopy eyes!"

Gray got up from his seat with a heated glare. "Oh yeah? Come at me, slanty eyes!"

Cana sighed, "Gray, clothes."

"Shit!"

Lucy calmly stepped well out of the way as Natsu and Gray once again became a blurry tangle of limbs. Elfman, who had been sitting nearby, shouted, "It's Manly!" before joining in on the brawl. He was then promptly sent flying into the air by both Natsu and Gray. Lucy sat down and ordered a drink, wondering when Natsu was going to remember the fact that he needed to be on a job. After all, she wasn't the desperate one here. Mirajane came with two glasses of juice, one for Lucy and a small one for Ria. As she watched Elfman retreat back to his original seat, a thought struck her.

"Mirajane-san, where's Lisanna-san?" she asked. Mirajane froze in mid-step and turned to face Lucy with a sad face.

"She died many years ago on a mission…" Mirajane said, her voice full of longing for her younger sister. Lucy's eyes widened.

"I see… I'm sorry for bringing up painful memories. She was alive along with everyone else back in the other world…" Lucy trailed off, her mind going back to _that _day; the day when she had failed to protect all those dear to her. She was snapped out of her daze by Mirajane's voice.

"She _was_ alive?" the white haired girl asked. Lucy immediately clenched her fists, hard enough that her nails caused blood to trail down from her palms. She refused to meet Mirajane's eyes and stared at the table. She didn't have to check and see to know that Ria was looking at her with knowing eyes.

"Yes," Lucy spat out in self-loathing and anger, "everyone _was _alive. Until…my failure to…dammit!" She softly slammed her fists onto the table, her jaws locked firmly. Her hands started shaking as more and more memories of that day flashed across her mind.

_Natsu's limp body being beaten into the ground. _

_Gray coughing out blood, his body covered in cuts and bruises. _

_Lisanna being shot. _

_Elfman, Mirajane and Cana being stabbed. Again and again. _

_The building set on a green tinted fire. _

_Master dead. Macao dead. Wakaba dead. Reedus dead. Laxus dead. Wendy dead. Evergreen dead. Freed dead. Bickslow dead. Bisca and Alzack dead. Team shadow gear completely annihilated. _

_Erza dead, lying in a pool of her own blood. _

Ria had tears falling out of her eyes as she also remembered that day. They had received the worst kind of surprise after returning from a long mission. Through her tears, she noticed Lucy's eyes starting to change colour. Her eyes widened in horror. _Oh no! I can't let Lucy lose herself! Not after I made her that promise! _Before she could do anything however, Mirajane surged forward and enveloped Lucy into a gentle hug.

Lucy welcomed the embrace and concentrated on the warmth to calm herself until her shaking gradually came to a stop and her eyes returned to its normal shade of brown. Ria sighed in relief, seeing that Lucy was now back to normal.

"It looks like I've also caused you to remember painful things. Now we're even," Mirajane said softly into Lucy's ear. The blonde girl let out a shaky breath and slowly pulled away from the hug.

"Thank you Mirajane-san. I almost lost myself back there," Lucy admitted. She knew she had somewhat of an anger problem. It was an issue that wasn't so obvious to others but it tended to flare every once in a while. There were just some people and things that triggered her anger more than others. She glanced around and was relieved to see that no one else had seen the exchange between her and the white haired girl.

Mirajane smiled. "You don't have to tell us anything you're not ready to share. Just take your time. Everyone in this guild has their own sadness but what's important is that you always look forward and remember that your friends will always be by your side. That's what Fairy Tail is all about."

Lucy smiled back. _She's right. I need to stop letting the past define me. I will just make sure that it doesn't happen again. _She abruptly stood up from her seat. "Come on Ria. We're going on a job." _Thank you, Mirajane-san. _

She approached Natsu, who was still trading blows with Gray and grabbed him by his collar and dragged him away to the request board.

"Natsu-san, have you forgotten that you need money for your dinner tonight?" she asked. Natsu paled, as if just remembering his crisis. He quickly hurried to the board and after a brief skim, he grabbed a paper. Lucy quickly read through the request. It was to retrieve a book called 'Daybreak' from this rich guy's house and to destroy it as soon as possible.

Ria grinned. "De-ja-vu much? What do you think it is this time? A murder again? A robbery record? A kidnapping evidence?"

Happy sweatdropped, "Don't make morbid jokes like that."

000

"So you're a celestial mage. How many spirits do you have a contract with?" Natsu asked. They were walking up to the Client's house in Shirotsume town after getting off the carriage that had taken them there. Natsu had begged Lucy to teleport them to the place but Lucy had refused since she wasn't too familiar with how to get there.

"I have seven of them. The golden bull Taurus, the giant crab Cancer, the water bearer Aquarius and the lion Loki are the gold keys I possess. The clock Horologium, the Southern Cross Crux and Lyra are the silver ones," Lucy listed. Of course, all of them had been passed down to her by her mother Layla. They had been with her from a very young age and she considered them to be her closest friends and family.

Natsu and Happy drooled, "Giant crab…"

Lucy ignored them and carefully inspected the client's house. The house gave her a distinctly unsettling feeling, although she wasn't sure what exactly the feeling was at this point. "At least the client seems to be able to afford the price this time," she muttered. Next to her, Natsu and Happy were having a party in their heads, already dreaming of endless plates of food.

Ria sighed, "All those two think about is food." Glancing at Natsu, she added as an afterthought, "…and beating people up."

Lucy smiled, "It wouldn't be them if they thought of anything else." She couldn't blame the pink haired boy for enjoying fights. Not a lot of people knew this but she was actually very similar to Natsu in that aspect. What was there not to like about beating people up and destroying random property? One simply wasn't part of Fairy Tail without at least having _some _tendency to be destructive.

When they knocked on the door, a servant greeted them and led them to the guest room where a man with grey hair was waiting for them along with a woman who seemed to be his wife. They took a seat on the opposite couch. The man gave them a welcoming smile.

"I'm the client Kaby Melon. My request is for you to dispose the book called 'Daybreak' which is in the possession of Duke Erverlue. You can burn the book if you'd like, I don't mind."

Natsu grinned, "Burning things is my speciality. I have an idea. Let's just burn the whole mansion down."

"A piece of cake," Happy agreed.

"Or we can just burn the book and get out of there," Lucy said drily.

Natsu ignored her comment. "It's an easy job with 200,000 jewels reward. I'm all pumped up now."

"Actually, it's 2,000,000 jewels now," Kaby corrected. Immediately, Natsu and Happy's eyes glazed over as they tried to calculate how much they would each get.

"That's 500,000 jewels each," Ria supplied. Natsu snapped out of his daze and straightened his back.

"You can count on us! Let's go, Lucy!"

000

It didn't take them long to arrive at Duke Everlue's residence. Lucy noted that the building was obnoxiously big and luxurious with lavish and over-the-top decorations that was simply there for the sake of being there. They quickly hid behind a bush which was several meters away from the mansion as they discussed their next course of action.

"Lucy, you should infiltrate the house as a maid. The flyer mentioned that the Duke is looking for new maids and the requirements were that they had to be blonde and pretty. I think you fit the bill, Lucy," Natsu said with a big grin.

Lucy raised her eyebrows. "So this is why you chose this mission. I guess it's worth a try but don't blame me if the plan backfires," Lucy said. With that, she approached the front gate and shouted, "I'm here to apply for the maid job."

Ria glanced at Lucy's attire with a sceptical face. "Lucy, I really don't think this is the kind of clothes someone who's looking to be a miad wears."

Lucy looked down at her clothes. She was wearing her usual pair of trousers and sleeveless coat. This time, the t shirt had 'Joy!' written on it. She shrugged, "Why not. Besides, I said it's not my fault if the plan backfires." As soon as she finished her sentence, the ground shook behind her. She turned around just in time to see a bulky pink haired maid at least three times her height shooting out from the ground like a hyperactive mole and landing with a loud thump. Lucy briefly checked below her to confirm that the ground was not going to split in half from the impact.

"A maid applicant?" the bulky maid asked. Her voice was thick and low and her eyes stared down at Lucy with a neutral expression. Then, seemingly to no one, she shouted, "Master, there is someone who's applying to be a maid!"

Once again, the ground rumbled before a short chubby man shot out from the ground. The first thing Lucy noticed was his moustache and the small clump of brown hair on top of of his pear shaped head.

"I'm guessing that fat and ugly is a thing in this mansion," Lucy muttered to herself. Unfortunately for her, Everlue had surprisingly sharp ears and heard her quiet mutter. He glowered at Lucy, his beady eyes scrunching in displeasure and his chubby cheeks puffing out unattractively. Lucy shuddered and took a small step away.

"What did you say?" he growled. Ria sighed at this turn of events. She had predicted that Lucy would get herself into trouble again. In that moment, Natsu and Happy, who had been observing from the bush, came running out.

"Lucy! Time for plan T!" Natsu shouted, completely disregarding the first nineteen letters and jumping straight to T. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He took a powerful swing at the bulky maid and Everlue and sent them flying to the distance. "Lucy! Teleport us into the mansion!"

Lucy nodded and grabbed Natsu who grabbed onto Happy and teleported them to the main hall. They looked around at the seemingly endless amount of doors.

"I guess there's no choice but to search every room," Lucy said. They then proceeded to go through one room at a time but none of them had any indication of having a book. On their way to the next room down the pathway, the ground in front of them rumbled and four equally ugly maids came flying out, each holding a weapon. Natsu dealt with them by simply swatting them away with his ignited fist.

Without a warning, the bulky maid also came flying out and landed on Natsu, shouting, "Flying Virgo Attack!"

"Natsu!" Happy shouted. Slowly, the maid Virgo was lifted and thrown into the air. Natsu quickly followed up with a swift kick aimed at Virgo, sending the maid crashing into the huge statue of Everlue in the middle of the hall.

In the meantime, Lucy opened the next door near the end of the path way and grinned when she found that the room was full of bookshelves filled with books. Natsu came jogging along with Happy. They made an impressed sound as they looked at the many rows of books.

"It's nice that we've found the room but finding the book is going to be a pain," Natsu said.

Lucy smiled. "Leave this one to me." She concentrated on the word 'Daybreak' and willed the books with that word on the title to glow silver. In the seventh row of the second bookshelf, a book with a yellow cover glowed bright silver. With a small smirk, she said, "Found it." Ria flew over to the book along with Happy. Natsu looked at her with mild confusion.

"I thought you were a celestial wizard?" he asked.

"I am but that's not my main form of magic although I do use my spirits quite often. I'm not sure how to explain it but my main form of magic mainly revolves around the colour silver. Even I don't know the details as to how it works but basically, I can do anything as long as silver is involved somehow." At Natsu's confused face, she said, "It doesn't really make sense, I know. I'll definitely do more research on my magic in the future. One day, I'll tell you the full story behind my magic but not now."

Together, they approached the book that was still glowing silver. Lucy plucked it out of its place on the shelf and the light faded away. Natsu took the book from her hands and lit his finger on fire.

"Alright! Let's burn this thing!"

"Wait," Lucy said, and snatched the book back from Natsu's hands.

Natsu groaned, "Not again! What's the problem this time?"

"I don't know but I get the feeling that we shouldn't burn this book. Give me a second to read over it. Natsu-san, please take care of anyone that interrupts." Lucy then flipped through the book at a high speed, her eyes scanning over the text. She didn't even look up when the ground trembled once again and Everlue popped out of the ground.

"I see. So you were after 'Daybreak'," Everlue said, stroking his moustache. "I don't know why a bunch of wizards are trying to get their hands on such a worthless book but what's mine is mine. And you will pay for calling my beautiful maids ugly and fat. Vanish Brothers!"

Two bookshelves parted to reveal a pathway which two guys were occupying. One was bald and the other had afro-like hair sticking all over the place. At her place in the back of the room, Lucy paid them no mind and continued to read.

"That mark…they're from the mercenary guild, the Southern Wolves!" Happy exclaimed.

"Heh, look at these small fries. I'm surprised that Fairy Tail has kids like you in their guild," the afro guy said.

"So you hired these guys?" Natsu asked with a grin. He cracked his knuckles, excited at the prospect of finally beating some people up. With a snap, Lucy closed the book and stood up.

"I finished reading. As I suspected, this book isn't just an ordinary one. Natsu-san, we're bringing this book back with us to the client. Let's go," she said, walking over to the boy and preparing to teleport of the mansion. Natsu stopped her with a meaningful look.

"Wait. I haven't had a good fight in a while so let me beat these guys up before we leave," he said. Ria sighed, having foreseen this happening.

"Very well. In that case, I will wait for you outside, Natsu-san." With that, Lucy teleported away. Once out in the open air, she leaned against a tree and waited. _If I'm correct about Duke Everlue's personality, he will soon confront me about the book. _Just as she had thought, Everlue flew out from the ground just beneath Lucy and grabbed her hands with a tight grip.

"You'll tell me about the secret of that book!" he growled. Lucy sighed. She effortlessly twisted her hands and easily broke out from his grip. She then swiftly grabbed him by his collar and slammed him into the ground. Everlue took this chance to dig a hole and come back out further away. "Ha! You'll never be able to catch me with my Diver magic!" He taunted and disappeared into the ground. Lucy sighed in annoyance and closed her eyes to concentrate on his presence. She listened for tiny movements in the ground. Her eyes snapped open as she brought down her fist to her right just as Everlue came out of the ground in that exact place. Her fist connected with his nose with a crunch and forced Everlue to move to a safer distance. Ria blew him a raspberry, thoroughly enjoying the show.

"Lucy can beat you to a pulp whist in coma, you fat-pig!" she yelled.

"How?!" He raged. "I am unpredictable! What trick did you use?"

Lucy remained silent. She didn't really have time to tend to his clearly bruised ego. She glanced up at Everlue's mansion when she heard an explosion coming from that direction. "It looks like Natsu-san is about done," she commented.

Ria sweatdropped. "They're going overboard once again. I'll be surprised if the house is still standing by the end of this."

Everlue growled and took out a golden key.

"If my Diver magic won't work, I'll send you flying with Virgo. Open, the gate of Maiden, Virgo!" Without a delay, the maid appeared and stood in front of her master protectively.

"Oh? So she was indeed a spirit. I knew there was something odd about her presence. In that case, Taurus." With a 'Moo' Taurus appeared, swinging his giant axe. Before going into battle, he looked over Lucy's body.

"Nice body as always! Although you should wear more revealing clothing that will show your fit body and those sexy muscles that I know you have," Taurus commented.

"I'll make a note of that," Lucy replied drily, "but first, take them out. I don't really feel like fighting right now."

"Moo!" Taurus rushed forward and swung his axe horizontally at Virgo. The maid leapt into the air and pulled her fist back, using the momentum to land a direct hit on Taurus. Taurus took a step back and readied his axe for another strike. "I will not let you harm Lucy-san's nice body!" he bellowed. He once again charged towards the maid and when she jumped, he quickly followed with a more powerful leap and smashed her into the ground with an overhead attack. When Virgo disappeared back into the spirit world, Taurus relaxed and allowed his gate to be closed by Lucy. Everlue trembled with shock and fear.

Just then, another explosion occurred at the mansion. Lucy watched in amusement as the mansion slowly started crumbling down, creating a huge pile of debris. From the big cloud of smoke surrounding the house, Natsu and Happy flew out, heading towards Lucy and Everlue. When the pink haired boy saw Everlue standing near Lucy, he quickly made an assumption and kicked the Duke unconscious. Lucy felt no sympathy for the plump man twitching on the ground, especially after what she had read in the book 'Daybreak'.

Lucy smiled at Natsu and Happy as they reunited. They took a moment to continue watching the mansion fall to bits. "Looks like we destroyed something again!" Natsu said cheerfully. Ria looked like she was going to say something but closed her mouth. She decided that her breath would be wasted on someone like Natsu.

000

"Um…so the book 'Daybreak' is actually called 'Dear Kaby' and the real nature of it is a letter from Kemu Zelon to his son," Natsu summarised. "I still can't get over that."

"Natsu, what's more important is that we're not getting any fish tonight!" wailed Happy. Natsu slumped. It had turned out that their client Kaby wasn't actually rich and couldn't afford to pay them. That and they had felt that the job wasn't completed properly and therefore, they didn't deserve the reward.

"But seriously, what are we going to do about dinner? I can't function properly tomorrow if I don't have dinner," Natsu said.

Lucy took pity on her friends. "How about I treat you to dinner at a restaurant tonight? I live in the girls' dormitory so boys aren't really allowed in my room. And I can't cook anyway."

Natsu and Happy immediately perked up and glomped Lucy.

"You're a really nice person, Lucy," Natsu said, with tears in his eyes.

"Aye."

Lucy vaguely heard Ria mutter something about her being too nice.

000

Lucy felt as though she was repeating the events of the day before. First the similarity of the cases and now this. She shuffled to a more splash-free zone and watched as bones and bits of soup flew through the air. She had long finished her meal but it was apparent that Natsu was far from done. Happy was on his fifth fish of the night and Ria was contently sleeping, worn out by the day's events.

"Natsu-san, we should start heading back to the guild now," Lucy said, looking out the window. Night time had already fallen and Natsu showed no sign of slowing down. Lucy wanted to get back to the guild and talk a bit more with her guild mates but at the rate they were going, it seemed like nothing more than a fleeting dream.

"You know, I've heard that Erza's coming back soon," Natsu said out of nowhere. Lucy glanced at his plates and was relieved to find that the food was finally gone. When his words caught up to her brain, she promptly froze.

"Really?" she asked, trying to hide her excitement. Apparently, Natsu wasn't as clueless as she had hoped and noticed immediately.

"You look excited. Were you good friends with her in the other world or something?" he asked.

This time, Lucy only hesitated for a second before remembering Mirajane's words about how everyone would be accepting. Besides, it would be wise to let Natsu know early on rather than let him find out on his own. "We were. In fact, I was and am in love with her," Lucy said. She held her breath as she waited for Natsu and Happy's reactions. She cared a lot about her friends' opinions and it would hurt her deeply if they disapproved.

After a moment of tense silence, Natsu yelled, "Seriously?!" Lucy flinched slightly at the sudden outburst. _At least he doesn't seem to be angry._ Seeing Lucy's reaction, Natsu calmed down and quickly tried to redeem himself. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. It's just, woah, you have bad taste in women." Happy slapped his face at Natsu's tactless comment.

Lucy narrowed her eyes, "What's that supposed to mean, Natsu-san?"

Natsu backed up nervously. "Nothing! Erza's a great friend but she's violent and scary you know?"

Lucy relaxed. She was glad that this seemed to be the only issue. In his own way, Natsu was reassuring her that he was fine with it. Although, she still thought that the comment about her having bad taste could have been avoided.

"And for your information, Erza-san is beautiful, smart, kind and strong. She's not scary at all and her violence is just part of her charm," Lucy said, her eyes starting to glaze. Happy put a paw to his mouth and stage-whispered to Natsu.

"She's completely blinded by love."

"Happy-san, please remember that those fish you have eaten tonight were all thanks to me."

"Aye!"

Natsu leaned back. "So does this make you a lesbian?"

Lucy frowned. "Natsu-san, just because I'm in love with Erza-san doesn't make me a lesbian."

"Okay, geez. Just asking."

"…but yes, I am a lesbian."

"…then what was the point of you arguing back?"

"I was just informing you so that you won't seem ignorant in the future."


	3. The strongest team of silver and scarlet

It was another normal day at Fairy Tail and time passed at an alarming rate for Lucy. She had been sitting at the bar for at least three hours and so far, nothing worth mentioning had taken place. Natsu and Gray were brawling and trading insults as usual and Cana was downing gallons of alcohol faster than Lucy could teleport. In all honesty, Lucy wondered how the girl didn't have alcohol poisoning. She was snapped out of her reverie by Mirajane's voice.

"How was your first job at Fairy Tail?" Mirajane asked with her usual warm smile plastered on her face. Her tone was soothing and it helped Lucy in getting rid of some of her restless energy.

Lucy hummed in contemplation. "It wasn't one of the most pleasant cases." Ria nodded from her place on the table. Laki had kindly created a set of miniature table and chair to match Ria's size. Lucy had wanted to express her gratitude in some way but the wood-make wizard had adamantly refused, saying that it was just part of what she did. Still, Lucy planned to eventually repay the debt. She wasn't one to owe someone for long.

"Yeah, it was like yeesh. Our client turned out to be a psychotic murderer. Who would have thought?" Ria added with wide hand gestures. Before Mirajane could make a reply of any sort, the main door flung open and a girl clad in Heart Kreuz armour walked in. She had long crimson hair and her face sported a stern expression. Lucy froze before she even turned around. She knew the presence well enough even without looking to know that it was Erza. She ignored the knowing look Mirajane gave her and slowly swivelled on her chair. When her eyes confirmed her suspicion, her throat immediately went dry and her heart started pumping faster than ever. Ria snickered at Lucy's dumbstruck expression, knowing that only Erza could have this effect on the girl. Lucy stared hard at the redhead. How long had it been since she had seen her friend? How long had she travelled through world after world searching for this girl? How long had she gone without hearing her voice and seeing her smile? Lucy knew what the answer was immediately- _way too long. _Images of Erza lying cold on the ground flashed through Lucy's mind. She saw red for a brief second before her eyes once again focused on the Erza who was standing in the middle of the room. _Erza-san… This time, I will protect you at whatever cost. _

"I have returned from my mission. Is the master here?" Erza asked, her brown eyes scanning the room for Makarov. Natsu and Gray, who had been fighting not only a second ago, were now stuck together with their arms slung over the other's shoulder. They were spouting some crap about going on a mission together and how it was so much fun to be best friends.

"Welcome back. Master's at a conference," Mirajane replied. She seemed to be one of the only few people who were unaffected by Erza's presence.

Erza frowned. "I see." She then turned her frown onto the guild members, who all straightened their backs with fear. "Listen up! On my way back, I've heard that Fairy Tail's been causing more troubles lately. Master may forgive you, but I will not!"

Everyone had cold sweat running down their foreheads while some even went to the corner to whimper. Lucy simply watched on with an uncharacteristically flushed face. Her heart filled with an indescribable feeling as she watched the all too familiar scene, a scene she had not witnessed in over four years. Even when she had first joined Fairy Tail, Lucy had never been afraid of Erza. Sure, she had been subjected to many of Erza's stern lectures and scolding and the experiences had taught her to be wary of Erza's wrath but never had she been actually scared of the other girl. Some may say it was due to her infatuation with Erza but Lucy knew it was more than that.

"Erza-san is as beautiful and gentle as ever…" Lucy muttered. Mirajane sweat-dropped, feeling vaguely concerned about Lucy's warped perception of 'gentle'. Erza seemed like she wanted to say more but closed her mouth, causing everyone to sigh in relief.

Instead, she said, "Are Natsu and Gray here?" Almost immediately, everyone parted to show Natsu and Gray still in a fake friendly hold with even faker smiles adorning their faces.

"Yo, Erza. We're still good buddies as usual," Gray said, a hint of strain in his voice.

"Aye!" Natsu added. Lucy wanted to hug Erza badly but she didn't want to come off as a creep and make a bad first impression. Erza, who seemed oblivious to the way Gray and Natsu were deliberately tightening their hold on each other, nodded in approval.

"Good. I like seeing you two getting along. In any case, Natsu. Gray. I have a favour to ask." This immediately caught the boys' attention and it finally got Lucy to break away from her thoughts filled with Erza. "During my job, I heard some concerning rumours about a dark guild. Usually, I would consult the master about it first but I believe that this is of utmost urgency. I want your help. Will you come with me?"

Lucy's expression darkened at the mention of a dark guild. She had an ongoing personal vendetta against dark guilds and took every opportunity to wipe out any she would come across. She didn't do it for the sake of justice or anything like that. She did it because she just hated dark guilds in general due to a personal reason. If this problem Erza mentioned involved a dark guild, Lucy didn't want to simply sit by and have the possibility of them getting away without any repercussions. Her decision made, Lucy slid out of her chair and walked up to Erza who was still waiting for Natsu and Gray's reply. Ria followed gleefully, anticipating the drama that she hoped would unfold very soon with Lucy's introduction. When Lucy was just a few meters away, Erza looked up and stared at Lucy in curiosity.

"And who are you? I don't believe I've seen you around before," Erza said.

Lucy showed Erza her guild mark. "Hi, I'm Lucy and I joined Fairy Tail yesterday. Oh, and this is Ria, my best friend." Ria performed a cartwheel in the air and took a small bow. Erza watched with interest.

"It seems that there is still much of the world I don't know about yet," she muttered to herself. Lucy sighed to herself, deciding that she would explain her situation later when they had free time.

Erza snapped out of her musing and smiled at Lucy. "It is my pleasure to meet you, Lucy. I am Erza Scarlet." Lucy smiled back with a light blush and ignored Ria's snort of amusement. Her best friend had always found Lucy's infatuation with the Scarlet mage a great source of delight.

"It's nice to meet you too," Lucy started, "but I'm afraid I will have to cut our introduction short. I would like to join you on this quest. I have my personal reasons but I guarantee that you won't be held back by my presence." Everyone gasped at Lucy's proposal, never guessing that the new girl would be so bold in the intimidating presence of the famous Titania. Erza seemed to think for a moment before nodding.

"I don't see why not." She turned to Natsu and Gray. "We leave tomorrow. Make sure you are ready," she said and walked out of the doors. Mirajane's body trembled and she wore a shocked, wide-eyed expression on her face. Cana glanced at the girl with concern.

"What's wrong, Mira?" she asked.

Mirajane stared at the trio who would be accompanying Erza on her trip. "I've never imagined it before but Erza, Natsu and Gray. This could be the strongest team in Fairy Tail. Not to mention that Lucy seems really strong as well."

Cana's eyes widened as she realized the truth in Mirajane's words.

"At least things are working out in Lucy's favour," the white haired girl mused to herself with a small smile. _Good luck, Lucy. Erza can be a bit dense when it comes to things like this. _

000

"Damn…I feel sick," Natsu grumbled, his face green from nausea. "I think I'm gonna hurl." Lucy, who was sitting opposite the boy smiled slightly in mild amusement.

"Please don't throw up on me, Natsu-san. Unlike Erza-san, I cannot perform requip magic."

Erza reached forward and delivered a punch to Natsu's guts. He croaked in pain before falling unconscious. "That should be better," she said.

Gray looked up in his seat next to Natsu. This seating arrangement had not been the most favourable one but at Lucy's strong, _strong _insisting, Gray and Natsu had finally got the hint and had agreed. Lucy mentally gave herself a pat on the back for informing Gray and Natsu of her feelings beforehand. She had told Gray at the station seeing that they were going to be teammates. Gray had been shocked at first like everyone else but very quickly got used to the idea. He had expressed his support to Lucy and the blonde mage had thanked the ice mage. Erza had been mostly oblivious to this whole exchange, too busy putting away her excess amount of luggage.

"Now that you mention it, what magic do you use? Natsu mentioned that you teleported to Magnolia from Hargeon." Gray asked curiously.

Lucy shrugged, "It's not my main magic. I can teleport myself and few others but I can't perform it as well as some people. I mostly summon stellar spirits with my keys." Actually, her teleportation wasn't even due to magic but she didn't reveal that information to the others as she didn't want to explain what it was exactly.

"And she uses this weird silver magic but nobody- not even Lucy herself- really gets how it works so don't bother asking about it," Ria chirped in.

Lucy sent her a glare. "It's not that hard to understand. I've thought about it but I think it's kind of similar to Gray-san's magic. You use moulding magic right? My magic's like that except I mould with 'Silver'." At Gray's confused look, she explained, "I can perform any magic to do with the colour silver. In moulding magic, imagination is key so as long as I'm creative, I can do a lot with my magic. For example, I can make a ropes come out of my hands as long as they're silver. Am I making sense?"

Gray nodded slowly. Obviously, Lucy's type of moulding magic was a lot harder to grasp than his.

Lucy sighed. "To be honest, Ria was correct when she said even I don't really understand my own magic. I've spent over ten years trying to figure out what it is exactly but I still haven't reached an answer I'm satisfied with." This was true especially after what had happened when she was fourteen. Over half of her magic had been sealed away and she couldn't risk it being unsealed just because she wanted to experiment what she could do with her magic.

Erza gave Lucy a side-glance. "I see. In that case, where are your keys? Surely as a celestial mage, your keys are of utmost importance?"

"I have them in my personal pocket dimension," Lucy informed them. She made a motion of taking something out from thin air. In that place, a purple gap appeared for a brief second and when it disappeared, a keychain with various gold and silver keys was in her hand. She then let the key go and another gap appeared to suck it in.

Erza looked on with interest. "That's some interesting magic you have there. It's a lot similar in nature with my magic, The Knight," she commented. Lucy smiled to herself. _You were the one who taught it to me, Erza-san. Well, the other you in another world. _They heard a groan and watched as Natsu slumped against his seat with his face still green. Happy continued to eat his fish, already used to Natsu's motion sickness. Gray ignored him and turned his attention to Erza.

"Now that we're all here, I think it's about time you told us what this is about," he said. Erza nodded.

"Right. We're going to go up against the dark guild Eisenwald. They plan to use a magic called Lullaby for something big."

"Lullaby… I've heard of it before," Lucy muttered. All eyes turned on her.

"If there's anything you know about it, please tell us. We need all the information we can get," Erza said. Lucy turned to Ria.

"Ria, can you search your data bank and see if there's anything to do with Lullaby?" she asked. The silver haired girl nodded and closed her eyes. Lucy took this moment to explain. "Elflings are known for their superb memory. They can remember any tiny thing from the past down to every detail with all their senses. I remember hearing about Lullaby once so I'm pretty sure Ria can recall all the details."

Lucy was thankful that she had already explained her situation to Erza otherwise this could have caused the girl to be incredibly confused. Ria snapped her eyes open and levelled Lucy with a serious gaze.

"I have some bad news. According to my memory, Lullaby is a flute that can perform 'mass curse murder magic' that can kill everyone who hears its melody. The only other thing I remember is that it's vaguely connected with the Dark Wizard Zeref."

This shocked everyone into silence. Erza frowned, "This is all the more reason why we should stop them. On my way back from my last job, I stopped by at a pub in Onibas where wizards would gather. They mentioned a man named Erigor and although I didn't realize it then, Erigor is the ace of Eisenwald. He only accepts assassination jobs so people call him the Grim Reaper."

"Sounds fun," Lucy muttered.

Erza clenched her fists. "I was careless. If I had recognised the name Erigor, I would have pulverized them and made them confess their scheme!"

"A dark guild…" Lucy smiled darkly. She vowed to herself that by the end of the day, every single one of them will never see daylight again. _Erigor…I wonder how your blood tastes like…_ Lucy blinked when she felt Ria poking her cheek sharply. The silver haired girl sent Lucy a concerned look which Lucy quickly replied with a reassuring smile. She subconsciously reached her hands to her ears to check that her headphone was still in place despite knowing that they were always there. She would have to be careful not to let her emotions get the better of her. She glanced at Erza who sat next to her with a determined expression. _Erza-san is still alive. There's no need to be rash. _

"Let's get something to eat. It's always a good idea to have something in your stomach when you're fighting," Lucy suggested. She turned to Erza and smiled. "I'm assuming you would like a slice of strawberry cheesecake?"

Erza stared at Lucy in surprise before a look of understanding passed over her face. "It's weird how you know so much about me yet I know next to nothing about you," she said. "Is the me in the other world similar to me in this world?"

Lucy grinned, "You would be surprised how everyone in the guild is almost exactly the same in both worlds. From what I can tell, both Erza-sans' personalities are pretty much the same. I'm not sure about the details though."

"Maybe you can tell me all about the other world after this trip. I am interested to hear the full story," Erza said with a smile. Lucy's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as she nodded, hopefully not too eagerly.

"She liiikes her," Happy drawled, rolling his tongue. Gray smirked, Natsu was too busy being sick and Erza was left confused.

000

"Are you sure they're still in Onibas?" Gray asked, once they got off the train.

"That's what we're going to find out," Erza replied.

Happy, who was sitting amongst Erza's luggage suddenly asked, "Hey, where's Natsu?"

Everyone froze and turned around as the train disappeared into the distance.

"I was so absorbed in the conversation that I forgot about Natsu. I can't believe myself! And he's bad with transportations too! This is my fault. Could someone please hit me?!" Erza exclaimed, her fist clenched in shame.

"I would teleport to where he is and bring him back but I can't do that when the train is moving so fast," Lucy said.

"Leave that to me," Erza said. She walked up to an emergency stop lever and pulled it down without hesitation. The train in the far distance lurched to a stop. "Can you do it now? We'll follow you shortly."

Lucy nodded and teleported away. She appeared in one of the carriages, almost giving the people sitting in the seat next to her heart attacks. She surveyed her surroundings but there was no sign of the dragon slayer. Suddenly, she heard an explosion in the carriage further up and grinned to herself. _That's definitely Natsu-san. _She ran to the carriage and found Natsu crouching on the floor with motion sickness as the train slowly started moving again. She quickly grabbed him and teleported them outside. After only a second, a magic mobile approached them at a high speed and came to a stop.

"Natsu, are you okay?!" Erza asked, rushing to the boy who was still recovering from his nausea.

"Aye," Natsu replied weakly. Once the green from his face faded away, he jumped to his feet and shouted in annoyance. "How dare you leave me behind?!"

Erza approached him and crashed his face against her chest covered in metal armour. "I'm glad you're not hurt."

"Ow!"

"Lucky bastard…" Lucy muttered darkly, glaring at Natsu. Gray wearily took a step back.

"Lucy, your face is scary…"

Lucy blinked and the dark air around her dissipated. She smiled apologetically, "Sorry. I can get a bit jealous sometimes when it comes to Erza-san."

"A bit?" Ria asked sceptically from Lucy's pocket. "Your whole character changes when you're around Erza. You get this stupid dopey expression and you're overly eager and protective, not to mention that you sometimes look like you're about to murder someone, like just now."

Lucy shrugged. "Say what you want Ria."

Natsu rubbed his head. "Urgh! I'm not fine. Some weirdo attacked me on the train. He said he was with Eisenwald or something."

Erza's eyes widened and she immediately slapped Natsu's cheek. "You fool! Eisenwald are the ones we're going after. Why did you let him go?"

Natsu stared up at the redhead in slight fear. "That's the first time I've heard about this," he said.

"I explained just few minutes ago! Listen to people when they're talking!"

Lucy sighed with a dreamy face, "Erza-san is so cute…"

Gray sweatdropped, "You're messed up in many ways."

"I agree," said Ria.

"In any case, we're going after that train," Erza said, strapping on the SE plug and starting up the magic mobile. "Let's go!"

000

The journey was thankfully short although it had been a rough one to say the least. Lucy had offered to take over the driving, concerned that Erza was overexerting herself but the requip wizard had declined, stating that it would only waste time. They came to a stop at the hill overlooking Kunugi station. The train had come to a stop and there was a crowd of angry people complaining about a dark guild taking over the train.

"The Eisenwald guys seem to be in a hurry if they're taking over the train," Gray deducted.

"Well, the army is already taking action, though I doubt they'll be able to do anything," Lucy said. "Even the most skilled soldiers won't be able to do anything against a mass curse magic."

"Hopefully we'll be able to put a stop to their plans before anything big happens," Erza said. She started the magic mobile once again, following the train tracks to Oshibana station. Similar to Kunugi station, a crowd of muttering people were gathered around the Oshibana station.

"I heard that some bad guys took over this station," they heard someone whisper. Erza frowned and approached a man wearing a porter uniform.

"You, what's the situation inside?" she asked. When she didn't receive an answer straight away, she punched his stomach, rendering him unconscious. She continued this with several other men before finally getting a reply.

"She's really forceful isn't she? Well, that's one difference between the other Erza and this one," Ria commented.

"That's just who Erza is," Happy said.

"Eisenwald is inside! Let's go," Erza shouted. Lucy slung a sick Natsu over her shoulders and sprinted into the station after Erza and Gray. As they ran, Erza filled them in on the situation.

"Apparantly, a small army unit were sent in but they haven't returned yet. Mostly likely they're still engaged in combat with Eisenwald."

"Or they were completely defeated," Lucy suggested, eyeing the unconscious men strewn about the staircase. They walked up the staircase and arrived at a train stop and found a large group of men who all seemed to be waiting for them. Sitting on the motionless train carriage was a man holding a scythe and standing in front of the group was the man Lucy had seen on the train with Natsu.

The man sitting on the train cackled. "So you really did come, Fairy Tail flies."

Erza glared. "So you're Erigor."

Lucy dropped Natsu unceremoniously onto the ground and nudged him lightly. "Is Natsu-san going to wake up soon?"

Happy shook his head. "It's impossible. He rode a train, a magic four-wheeler and then you. It's a killer triple vehicle combo."

"I see."

Erza stepped forward, "What is your purpose?! What are you trying to achieve with Lullaby?" Erigor flew into the air and landed on a speaker. Erza's eyes widened as realization dawned. "You're going to broadcast Lullaby? You going to let innocent people get killed?"

Erigor chuckled. "Think of it as cleansing. These people flaunt their rights, ignorant of the people who had their rights taken away. It's a sin to live oblivious to the unfairness of the world. Therefore, I, the grim reaper, shall dish out punishment! We shall gain power and take control of the future!"

Lucy frowned as she processed what Eirgor said. She felt that everything he was saying was complete bullshit and there was something definitely off about his reasoning. She felt as if there was a different motive. If they were to gain power, wouldn't it be more effective to take out influential people rather than a group of normal citizens? She shook her head and set her face into a neutral expression. Either way, she was going to put every Eisenwald members into the custody of the magic council at the very least.

"Too bad, Fairy Tail flies. Looks like you won't be able to witness the glorious Dark Age," said the man standing in front of the group. He crouched down and touched the floor. Three shadows crawled across the floor towards Lucy and materialised into the air, preparing to lash out.

"Why is it that I'm always the first to get attacked?" Lucy mused to herself. She had noticed this pattern a long time ago and had yet to come up with a good answer. Not matter who or how many she happened to be with, she was always the first victim. "Is it because I'm blonde?" As the shadows shot forward, a blur of flames intercepted the attack. Natsu stood in front of Lucy with a grin. Erigor smirked at this turn of events and flew into air.

"I'll leave the rest to you. Show them the true terror of a dark guild," he said and with that, disappeared into thin air. Lucy narrowed her eyes. Once again, there was the nagging feeling at the back of her head, telling her that everything was way too suspicious.

"Natsu, Gray. You go after him. If you work together, not even the Grim Reaper can hold a chance," Erza said. Natsu and Gray glared at each other, obviously displeased. "Are you listening?!" Erza roared. This set the two into action immediately and they ran off down into the distance.

A man wearing a yellow and black stripped headwear shot out black ropes of ribbons from his hand and jumped onto the rail. "Leave this to me. I, the great Rayule, will take them down!" The man at the front with shadow magic crouched and sank moulded into the shadow, also intending to follow Natsu and Gray.

"We'll follow them when we're done here," Erza said. Lucy nodded.

A man whose face resembled a monkey laughed mockingly. "What are two women going to do against all of us? You flies, I'll pluck the wings off your back."

Lucy's brows twitched at the man's insolence. _How dare he directly insult my guild and thus indirectly insult Erza-san? That's it. Screw the others. I'm going to teach this one a lesson personally. _She took out a small sharp needle from her pocket dimension. Ria paled when she saw what Lucy was holding. _Oh dear. _

"Erza-san, please leave this man to me. I'll teach him not to insult my family ever again. In the meantime, I trust you'll be able to make light work of the rest," Lucy said, her voice cool and devoid of warmth. Erza, despite not knowing what Lucy was thinking, nodded anyway.

"Got it. I'll also give them a taste of what happens to people who insults Fairy Tail." With that, she reached out her hand and a red magic circle appeared, dropping a magic sword into her hand. A bunch of men holding various weapons immediately rushed forward.

"That's nothing special. We've got tons of magic swordsmen on our side!" They shouted. Lucy watched in satisfaction as Erza delivered two slashes and sent the men flying in every direction from the sheer force. Knowing that Erza would be fine, she turned back to the monkey man. He sneered at her and thrust his hand forward, creating a pillar of green light that shot towards Lucy at a blinding speed.

Seeing that Lucy wasn't moving, Happy rushed forward, paws outstretched. "Lucy, move!" However, Lucy remained in her place with her face nothing but calm and allowed the attack to make contact with her. Instead of knocking her out upon contact, the pillar of light split into two, curved its course to go around Lucy's body and crashed into the wall behind her. Happy stared in shock at how effortlessly Lucy had done it. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that Lucy's body emitted a faint silver glow. _Did she surround herself with a tight protective barrier? _

"Is this all you've got?" the blonde girl asked with her eyebrows raised. "I didn't even feel that attack." The monkey man scowled and shot three pillars of light towards her simultaneously but all of them ended up the same way as the first one had. Lucy teleported to stand directly in front of the man, who was now sweating bullets. She leaned her face in and smiled when he jumped back in fear. She took out her needle and a slow sadistic smirk crossed her face.

"You know, I can teleport objects as well," she remarked casually. "So let's imagine what would happen if I teleport this sharp needle directly into your body. It can be anywhere in your body- your eye, your muscle, your brain and even your heart." She watched in amusement as the man shakily took a few steps back, his face full of fear. "Yeah, it would hurt like a bitch."

"Y-you're just bluffing!" he shouted, attempting to put on a brave façade.

Lucy raised her eyebrows, her smirk still in place. "Am I?"

Without a warning, she teleported once again but this time, she stood directly behind the man and leaned to whisper into his ear. "Now, I wonder, how high is your pain tolerance?" This was the last straw for the man and he took running whilst screaming his head off. Lucy simply teleported to stand in his path and knocked him out using his running momentum. "That was pathetic."

"Lucy!" Ria scolded. "That's was a bit extreme. Poor guy, he's going to have nightmares for weeks. You're way too good at this sadistic act."

"Yeah, it was really convincing, Lucy," Happy added. "I thought you were actually going to do it."

Lucy smiled, "Who said it was an act?" At Ria's disconcerted look, she gently laughed and apologized. "Sorry. That was just a joke." It really wasn't a joke but she wasn't about to reveal this piece of information.

"Sometimes, I honestly can't tell with you," Ria muttered. Lucy chuckled and watched Erza wipe out most of the men with her Heaven's Wheel armour. This only left the fat man with green hair standing.

He was trembling with fear. "Titania Erza…the Queen of fairies and the strongest woman in Fairy Tail," he said in a mixture of awe and fear. Lucy smiled with pride. _That's Erza-san for you. _The fat man's eyes widened when he realized that he was the only one left undefeated. With that realization, he quickly took off.

Erza made no move to go after him. Instead, she turned to Lucy. "That man might be headed for Erigor. Go after him."

Lucy mock saluted. "Yes ma'am," she said and she teleported away along with Happy.

"Are you sure you should have just left her there? She's obviously drained so you could have given her some of that medicine that helps the speed of restoring magical power," Ria said, once they were out of Erza's earshot.

Lucy shrugged, "Erza-san doesn't like being weak in front of her friends. She'll just reassure me that nothing's wrong if I tried to do that because she's stubborn. Because of her reputation, everyone puts her on this pedestal when really, she's just like you and me and needs the support of her friends."

"Since when did you become so good with words?" Ria asked playfully.

Lucy grinned. "That's what being in Fairy Tail does to you."

"Wow you really know Erza well. How much stalking did you do?" Happy asked, looking impressed.

"I didn't stalk. Stalking would imply that I did it secretly without her knowing," Lucy replied and left it at that.

They searched around the station and found no traces of the man with green hair. "Damn, he's an annoying pest," Lucy muttered. She stopped walking to think of a strategy. If she couldn't find the man despite searching the station thoroughly at a high speed, he was most likely a wizard who could mould into things, like that guy who used shadow magic. The green haired man seemed cowardly so it was possible that he was hiding in one place the whole time. Where would he feel the safest? She grinned when the answer came to her.

"Come on Ria, Happy. We're going to do some ambush of our own," said Lucy.

000

"Erza!" Gray shouted, rushing into the area. "Eisenwald's real target is the town ahead, where gramps and the others are having their meeting! They plan to use Lullaby there!"

Erza, who was interrogating the monkey guy about the wind barrier, looked up in shock. She turned back to the guy and glared. "Is that so?!" she growled. She dropped the trembling guy to the ground. "But this station is surrounded by a Magic Wind Wall."

Gray smirked. "Yeah but we have Lucy on our side, remember?"

Erza's eyes widened. "How could I have forgotten? She can teleport us out of this station. Gray! Hurry and find Lucy!"

"Right!" They both ran off in search of the blonde wizard. The monkey man clicked his tongue, annoyed that their plan to stall the Fairy Tail wizards was failing.

"How long are you going to hide there, Karacka…" he choked out. As soon as the words were uttered, a gold magic circle appeared on the wall and the green haired man popped out, scratching his head.

"Sorry…"

"They've got a wizard who can teleport on their side. Go after them and eliminate her."

"That won't be necessary," a voice called out. Before anyone could even blink, Karacka fell to the ground, his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Standing over his body was Lucy along with Happy hovering next to her.

"We did it!" Happy cheered.

Lucy turned to the monkey man who looked as if he was about to faint. "Looks like you still haven't learnt your lesson. Lucky for you, I don't have time to deal with you right now."

With a final glare, she flickered and disappeared.

000

"Lucy! Where were you?" Gray asked as she appeared next to him. Natsu and Erza were also there along with an unconscious Kageyama.

"Sorry, I was just taking care of some leftovers. Shall we go?"

She grabbed onto Natsu who held Happy and Gray who held onto Erza who was carrying Kageyama. Lucy looked at Kageyama. "Why are we bringing him with us?" she asked. She didn't really like the idea of travelling with a member of the notorious dark guild.

"He's a dispel wizard. He might be able to do something about Lullaby," Erza said.

"Oh, Okay." Lucy had to conceded that it was a worthy enough reason.

In an instant, they were outside the station.

"Do you think you can take us to where Erigor is?" Gray asked. Lucy shook her head.

"I'm afraid I can't predict where he's going to be. We'll have to follow him by magic mobile," she answered. When she noticed that Natsu and Happy were gone, she smiled. "But I don't think there's any need to worry. I'm sure that Natsu-san will take care of him."

They soon found the magic mobile they had parked before entering the station. Gray climbed into the mobile with Kageyama. Erza sat on the driver's seat and was about to attach the SE plug when Lucy took it out of her hands and gently shoved her off the seat. The blonde girl quickly replaced Erza and strapped on the SE plug and started up the mobile.

Erza stared at her. "What are you doing?"

"Driving," Lucy replied simply.

Erza frowned and approached Lucy. "You should save your energy for later. I'll do the driving."

Before the redhead could get Lucy out of her seat, Lucy quickly reached out her hand, made contact with Erza and teleported her into the carriage next to Gray. Then she quickly moved the mobile before Erza could get out and protest. Erza blinked when she suddenly found herself sitting next to Gray. A moment passed and she sighed in defeat, a soft smile soon gracing her features. _Thank you Lucy._

Lucy stared ahead of her with a frown, thinking about the redhead's advice to save her magic. "I could say to same to you, Erza-san," she muttered to herself. "You should really think about yourself once in a while."

"That was chivalrous of you Lucy," Ria commented.

"I couldn't just leave her alone when she was obviously having a hard time."

The small silver haired girl giggled teasingly. "See Lucy, you seem much cooler when you're not actively trying to win her heart. This is a lot more likely to win Erza over than your stupid dopey smiles so just let your natural charm do the work."

Lucy scowled. "Oh shut up, smart ass." She seriously hated her friend sometimes.

By the time they reached where Natsu and Erigor was, the wind wizard was already knocked out with multiple bruises covering his body. The Lullaby flute was dropped carelessly to the side. Unnoticed by anyone, its eyes glowed purple for a brief second before dimming. Lucy smiled at the sight of Natsu standing over Erigor with a battered body and a wide grin. _I knew Natsu-san would be able to do it._

"Oi, you guys are late. I already defeated the Erigor guy," Natsu said as Lucy approached him. Erza and Gray climbed out of the mobile, not noticing that Kageyama was left alone.

"Can't believe you had trouble with a guy like him," Gray goaded. Natsu fumed, his eyes narrowing in anger as he glared at the ice mage.

"Trouble?! I wiped the floor with him."

"Besides, you're wearing a scarf whilst being half naked. You look like a pervert," Gray said with a smirk.

Natsu scowled. "Like you can talk, exhibitionist freak." He then turned to Lucy, obviously bothered by Gray's comment. "Hey Lucy, can I borrow your clothes?"

With a small smirk, Lucy reached into her pocket dimension and pulled out a pink sweater with a yellow happy face on it. Natsu stared at it with an appalled face.

"That seriously won't go well with my scarf." Despite his grumblings about fashion atrocity, he took the sweater anyway and pulled it on. Lucy did her best not to snicker. And failed.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared overhead and they all looked up. The magic mobile was soaring over them with the support of shadow arms. Sitting in the driver's seat, Kageyama hollered.

"Ha! This is what you get for letting your guard down, flies! I've got Lullaby now!" With that said, he quickly sped away. Erza, Natsu, Gray and Lucy stared after him in stupefied shock. Lucy snapped out of her stunned state and grabbed her teammates.

"We're going to Clover and we'll wait for him to show up. Then, we'll kill…I mean knock him out and take away Lullaby," Lucy growled.

"I heard kill in that sentence," Gray sweatdropped.

"She really sucked at covering it up," Happy added.

"She definitely meant kill," Erza nodded.

"Lucy sometimes says things she doesn't mean by accident. It just slipped out," Ria tried to defend her friend although there was a hint of uncertainty in her voice. Lucy ignored the comments and teleported them away to the conference hall.

000

When night time fell, Kageyama finally appeared holding Lullaby. He glanced at the meeting place and smirked to himself. Finally, he would get revenge on the guild masters. The ones who thinks they're all that. He would teach them a lesson and make them suffer. Unknown to him, six Fairy Tail members were glaring at him on a hill overlooking his position: two girls, two boys, one Elfling and one cat.

"I say we just go over there and give him a good punch!" Natsu said, cracking his knuckles menacingly.

"No, we can't act rashly as long as he's holding Lullaby," Erza reminded. They watched as Master Makarov strolled out of the conference hall. Kageyama followed and started up a conversation with him, gesturing towards the flute he was holding.

"Damn him, he's planning to take out master!" Lucy exclaimed and stood up. Screw consequences, nobody gets away with hurting her family.

She was snapped out of her anger by another voice. "Shh…it's just getting good. Watch quietly." It was a bald man wearing a thin pink top with white wings attached to the back. Lucy recognised him as master Bob, the guild master of Blue Pegasus. He turned to Lucy and Erza.

"Erza-chan! You've grown so much! And you must be the new member Makarov was talking about."

They watched wearily as he went over to Natsu and Gray and started flirting with them. Below them, Kageyama put the flue to his mouth.

"Shit!" Lucy cursed to herself, ready to teleport and snatch the thing away.

As if reading her mind, Goldmine, the master of Quatro Cerberus, said, "Just be quiet and watch. It's getting to the good part."

They watched in tense silence as minutes ticked by with Kageyama still holding onto the flute. They listened to Makarov's speech and smiled when Kageyama dropped the flute and slumped to the floor in defeat. Lucy relaxed, glad that no one was hurt. They hurried to where Makarov was standing with Kageyama.

"Master!"

"Gramps!"

"Master that was truly a moving speech!" Erza said and pulled Makarov into her chest, not noticing the way he was groaning in pain. This time, Lucy didn't say anything. She was simply happy that master Makarov was unharmed.

All of a sudden, an eerie voice echoed across the area and the Lullaby flute cackled, its three eyes glowing purple. "I'm tired of all you spineless wizards!" A huge purple magic circle appeared over them with bolts of energy cackling to the ground. "I've had enough! I will devour your souls myself!" A massive treelike abomination appeared from the magic circle and it had three empty sockets for eyes, just like the flute.

"A demon of the book of Zeref…" Goldmine said.

"Is it a tree? Is looks strangely…naked," Lucy commented.

"That's your reaction?!"

"Now then…whose soul should I take first?" the Lullaby demon wailed, peering down at the gathering of wizards. It blasted a ray of energy to a distant mountain. When the smoke cleared, the mountain was no longer there. "I've decided! I'll devour all of your souls!" Lucy briefly wondered what the point was in randomly destroying an innocent mountain. Sure, it proved that the demon was extremely powerful and all that but otherwise, it really was unnecessary. Now the mountain looked ugly thanks to the stupid tree demon.

The demon roared, causing all the guild masters to cover their ears from the horrible sound. However, the four Fairy Tail wizards stood firm. Makarov smirked. _Show everyone what Fairy Tail is made of!_

Erza charged in with a sword in each hand. "Let's go!"

Gray, Natsu and Lucy made a confirmative sound and followed after the redhead. In the air, Erza requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armour and smoothly executed two consecutive strikes at the demon with each sword. Caught off guard by the fast attack, Lullaby groaned and lost its concentration for a second. Not wasting any time, Gray went to occupy the demon's left side.

"Ice make…lance!" Dozens of ice spears flew in and attacked the demons lower body, making it wobble unsteadily as one of its legs were disabled. Natsu jumped into the air to be level with its face and punched Lullaby with his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist and the demon promptly reeled back by the force of the attack. Lucy teleported to stand on the demon's head and stretched out both her hands. Thick long silver ropes cackling with energy shot out of the silver magic circle in front of her hands and coiled to bind the demon, causing it to be immobilised.

"Good work, Lucy!" Erza called out. "Everyone, we're attacking together at the same time!" She requipped into her Black Wing armour.

"The hell with this!" the demon roared. Its eyes glowed purple and shot out a concentrated ball of Ethernano to where the guild masters were standing. There was an earth-shaking explosion and the grass caught fire. However, the masters were not harmed by the attack as Lucy had quickly teleported with Gray to stand before them and create an ice shield layered with her silver magic to strengthen the defence.

Natsu sucked in the fire in the area caused by the explosion. "Now that I've eaten, I'm all fired up!"

"Ice make saucer!" A spinning ice saucer whooshed forward and sliced the demon's midriff. While the demon's attention was on Gray, Erza flew to the demon's head and dealt a blow to its face. Lucy shot a thin ray of concentrated magic to its shoulder. Lullaby fell on its back, unable to regain his footing due to the binds.

"Natsu!/Natsu-san!" they all shouted.

Natsu punched his fists together. "Alright! The flames of my right hand and the flames of my left hand. Put them together…Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"

With a loud battle cry, he threw the massive ball of fire at Lullaby. It hit the demon's face with a powerful force and caused a brilliant explosion of white light that reached to the sky before bursting into tiny bits of harmless crystal.

"Marvellous!" Makarov praised, looking a lot like a proud parent.

"One of Zeref's demons, defeated just like that…" Goldmine said, impressed by the display of magic and teamwork.

Kageyama watched in awe. "In-incredible! This is…this is what Fairy Tail Wizards are like?!"

"What do you think? Incredible aren't they?" Makarov gloated with a gleeful expression.

One master sweatdropped. "Incredible but…"

Everyone turned to look at the huge crater where the conference hall and several mountains had once stood.

"THEY WENT OVERBOARD!"

Makarov gaped and fainted, his soul flying out of his mouth.

Lucy grinned. "I seriously love Fairy Tail."

"Give us our hall back!" the masters shouted.


	4. Bonding over cake

In a certain part of Era, it was the Magic Council meeting once again and the council members were gathered to discuss the recent events of the Lullaby incident. After agreeing that Lullaby should be sealed away forever, they once again arrived on the topic of Fairy Tail.

"Those Fairy Tail pests! They did it again. Look at the damage they made to Clover!" Org shouted, showing his clear distaste for the guild.

Yajima stroked his beard and attempted to calm the man down. "Despite that, they did manage to defeat Lullaby and prevent the deaths of the guild masters. If it weren't for them, it probably would have been us held responsible for their death."

"Indeed. We should learn to appreciate them more," Siegrain added with an amused smirk. "It's people like them that makes this world so interesting."

Org fumed. "Stop talking nonsense! It's only because of them that we have so much work on our hands. I say that it's about time we did something to punish them."

More than half of the council members nodded in agreement. Gran Doma looked around at the predominant consent and made the decision. "Then it is decided."

000

"Welcome to Fairy Hills Lucy!" Levy, Bisca, Laki, Cana, Mirajane and Erza shouted, all of them throwing confetti at the girl. Lucy smiled as she took in the sight of the decorations hung up all over her room.

"Thank you everyone. I really appreciate this," Lucy said sincerely. Although she had technically moved in few days ago, things had been hectic, what with the Eisenwald incident so there had been no time for everyone to actually sit down and have a party. However, on this particular day, it just happened that no one in the dorm had any missions so everyone had deemed it appropriate to hold a welcome party for Lucy. Naturally, they came to the conclusion that it should be held in her room.

"You have a lot of books, Lu-chan," Levy commented, looking at the five bookshelves lining the wall opposite her bed.

Lucy laughed. "Not as much as you, Levy-san. Compared to you, these are nothing. But you might be interested to know that these are books I've collected from various different worlds. Some of them are really interesting, like the book on the History of Elflings."

Ria flew into the air. "That book's really thick you know! It contains a lot of stuff that even I don't know about."

Levy's eyes sparkled. "Ooh… it sounds so exciting. Do you think I can borrow some of these books?!"

"Of course you can." Levy wasted no further time and rushed to the first bookshelf, grabbing any book that looked remotely interesting.

Cana chugged down a bottle of sake. "Hey, have you got a collection of alcohol from different worlds as well?" she asked, her words slightly slurred due to her drunken state.

"No, I'm sorry Cana-san. I didn't think to collect alcohol," Lucy informed her regretfully.

"Don't feel bad Lucy. Cana really doesn't need any more alcohol in her system," Laki said.

"Ooh! I found a sexy yaoi doujinshi!" Levy exclaimed, holding up a book with a cover of two men stripping each other and looking into each other's eyes. Laki immediately jumped up and made a grab for the book. She snatched it out of Levy's hand and rapidly flicked through the pages with stars in her eyes.

Bisca gave Lucy a pointed look. "I didn't think you would be into this kind of thing."

"I wonder what other naughty books you possess," Mirajane teased, mirth dancing in her eyes.

Lucy shrugged. "That was just a present I received from someone."

"Who was it?" Erza asked in curiosity.

Lucy blushed slightly. "Oh, um…you," she said in a low voice. She made an effort to not look into anyone's eyes. There was a moment of silence before everyone burst out into laughter, except for Lucy and Erza who were red in the face. Trying to make the situation less embarrassing, Lucy continued, "I meant you in the other world! And you only gave it to me as a joke…I think."

She grimaced when there was another round of laughter and she realized that she had only made everything worse.

Just then, the door to her room burst open and a frog-like humanoid creature walked into the room. The creature called for everyone's attention before clearing their throat. "I am a messenger from the Magic Council and I'm here to announce the arrest of Erza Scarlet for committing eleven crimes in the Eisenwald incident including mass property damage," the messenger announced. The room fell into silence and the girls glanced at Erza to gauge her reaction.

"An amphibian…? What is this creature?" Lucy muttered. Ria winced when the messenger sent the blonde girl a fierce glare. _Lucy! Think carefully before you speak! _

Erza got up calmly and followed the messenger out of Lucy's room. The messenger sent Lucy one final glare before leading Erza out of Fairy Hills and to the Fiore branch headquarters. The girls sat in a sombre silence, the party mood quickly deflated due to the sudden arrest of Erza.

"Hopefully Natsu doesn't find out. He'll go on a rampage," Levy commented. Everyone nodded in agreement. Lucy abruptly got up.

"I'm going to go for a walk," she announced. Everyone gave her a wary look.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do Lucy," Mirajane warned her.

Lucy waved away her concerns. "Don't worry, Mirajane-san. Like I said, I'm just going out to get fresh air. Right now, I'm not really in a mood to celebrate."

She walked out, leaving the girls staring after her in worry.

"You're not going to do something reckless are you?" Ria asked suspiciously, once they were out on the streets.

"Ria, I know better than to go against the council. Besides, I suspect that she'll probably be let out by the end of the day anyway," Lucy answered. "I'm just going to visit a shop."

They walked further down until they stopped at a patisserie shop. Lucy entered, ignoring the confused face of her friend. The shopkeeper looked up as the bell attached to the door chimed.

"Welcome! What can I do for you?" the man in a white apron asked. He stood behind a glass counter where many different kinds of cakes were displayed. Lucy searched the shelves for the cake she was looking for. She pointed at the white cream cake with strawberries at the top.

"I'll have one of this please," she said, taking out the appropriate amount of jewels to pay. The confusion finally cleared from Ria face.

"Oh. You're thinking of giving this to Erza, aren't you?" she asked with a smile.

Lucy nodded as she took the cake encased in a gold box and carefully placed it in her pocket dimension. "Yeah. She missed lunch to save up appetite for the party food so she must be really hungry by now."

"Are you going to give it to her after she's let out?"

"Nope. I'm going to make a visit to the council headquarters. It's not like I'm breaking the law by visiting a friend."

Ria groaned. "You _are _going to do something reckless. Please think about the consequences. What if they have surveillance lacrimas, which I'm certain they will? It's not just a matter of teleporting in and teleporting out."

Lucy grinned, "Don't worry, I have a plan."

"God knows how much I hate your 'plans'" Ria grumbled. "You know what? Fine. Don't say I didn't try to warn you." And with that, she disappeared into Lucy's pocket. Lucy sighed. Oh well, she would make it up to her friend later.

000

Erza closed her eyes and leaned against the prison wall. She was certain that night time had fallen outside but since she was underground anyway, she had no way of confirming her suspicions. She sincerely hoped that the news of her getting arrested hadn't reached her guild mates; at least not until she's let out. Even though it wasn't her fault, she still felt bad about ruining Lucy's welcome party, especially knowing that everyone had prepared a lot for the party. She hoped that they were at least having fun without her. Just as she was thinking that, the door to her cell opened and someone was shoved in.

"Hopefully, your time in prison will help you reflect on your actions. You'll be here till midnight. Don't cause any trouble until then," said a gruff voice before the door was slammed shut.

Erza remained silent, not sure if it was wise to say anything. That is, until she heard an all too familiar voice.

"Gosh, Lucy. _That _was your plan? That was the single most stupid and reckless plan ever. You're lucky that you only got off with few hours in prison."

Erza's eyes widened in shock. Lucy? What was Lucy doing in prison?

"Geez, I get it. It worked didn't it?"

There was a huff and then silence. Erza cleared her throat. "Lucy? Is that you?" she asked, squinting her eyes to make out the figure sitting opposite her.

"Um… good evening, Erza-san," Lucy said. She lit her finger with a bright silver light, illuminating the whole room.

Erza frowned. "What are you doing here?"

Before Lucy could reply, Ria beat her to it. "She crashed into the building, literally. Now there's a big hole in one of the rooms." the small girl said bluntly.

"WHAT?! Are you stupid?!" Erza hissed, glaring at Lucy who fidgeted slightly under her intense gaze.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time…" Lucy mumbled, entirely avoiding Erza's stare. The redhead sighed.

"Why did you do it?" she asked, this time in a much softer voice. At this, Lucy perked up with a small grin.

She opened up her pocket dimension and took out a gold box. "Since you didn't eat lunch, I thought you might be getting hungry so I bought you a cake." Lucy opened the box to reveal an average sized sponge cake with white cream and strawberries covering the top and the side. Erza opened and closed her mouth, lost for words until she sighed and settled into a soft smile.

"I don't know whether I should scold you for being so reckless or be touched that you thought of my well-being and did all of this just to give me something to eat," she said. Lucy grinned with a slight blush. She took out a knife and cut the cake into four sliced. She placed a slice on a plate and handed it to Erza along with a fork.

"Maybe you should decide that after eating the cake. It's really delicious," Lucy said, taking a slice for herself as well. She cut a small bit and gave it to Ria who huffed but took it anyway. The three ate their cakes in silence, revelling in the heavenly taste.

"Mm…this cake really_ is_ good." Erza admitted as she took another bite. Lucy smiled. She had long finished her own slice but she was content in simply watching the other girl enjoy the food. Seeing Erza happily eating the cake Lucy had bought definitely made the few hours in prison worth it.

Once the cake was completely finished, Erza handed back the plate and the fork to Lucy. "Thank you, Lucy. I must admit, I was getting a bit hungry. As much as I don't approve of your method, I'm happy that you went out of your way to do this for me."

"I'm glad you liked it," Lucy said, smiling widely. Lucy decided that there was something very addictive about seeing Erza's smile and looking into those honest and expressive eyes. It was in these small moments that Lucy once again truly realised just how beautiful Erza was, both inside and outside. For the nth time, she vowed to herself that she would protect that smile.

And this time, she would not fail.

000

The night had quickly progressed and both Erza and Lucy had been let out after midnight. They had returned to Fairy Hills together where they were greeted by Bisca, Levy, Mirajane and Laki who had all stayed up and waited for them. They had quickly had a small continuation of Lucy's welcoming party before heading back to their own rooms to finally get some rest.

The next day, Lucy entered the guild and found that luckily, Natsu had been on a job with Happy the previous day so the news of Erza's arrest did not reach him. Anyone who knew was wise enough to keep it to themselves. Lucy was subjected to a brief lecture from Makarov regarding her property damage. Despite the chiding tone, Makarov expressed no real anger towards Lucy's action and she was let off with only a 'don't do it next time'. Of course, the content of her little exchange with Erza inside the prison also remained a secret between the two of them. Currently, the recently formed Team Natsu sat around a table, each minding their own business.

"I'm so booored..." grumbled Natsu. Lucy paused in her reading and looked up at the boy.

"We could go on another job," she mused. "It's been a long time since I've been on an S-class one." At this, Gray, Natsu and Erza's heads simultaneously snapped to stare at her in surprise. Lucy blinked at the strange reaction until she realized with a groan that technically, she wasn't really an S-class wizard anymore now that she was in Earthland. "Great. Now I have to take the exam all over again," she grumbled with a displeased frown. The exam was unpredictable each year and Lucy really didn't want to go through the effort again.

"You're an S-class wizard?" Natsu asked. He had a certain gleam in his eyes that Lucy carefully identified as admiration and excitement.

Before Lucy could say anything, her small companion quipped in, "Only in the other world. Now she has to take the exam allllll oooover agaaaaain."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at Ria. "Watch what comes out of your mouth or I'm not going to take you along on my next job." This got the Elfling to shut up immediately. "But yes. I became an S-class mage in the other world two years after Erza-san," Lucy informed.

"Since I'm two years older than you, does that mean that you and I passed the exam at the same age?" Erza asked, mild curiosity lacing her voice.

Despite having been warned, Ria smirked as she approached Erza. "Trust me, it wasn't an accident. Lucy refused to take part in the exam until she was ten. _The age when you became an S-class wizard,_" Ria mock-whispered. Erza's eyes widened as she caught the implication and stared at Lucy, who was blushing hotly.

"I refused because I wasn't ready and accepted because I _was _ready!" Lucy hissed through clenched teeth whilst avoiding Erza's stare. She really was speaking the truth. When master had offered her an opportunity to take the exam in previous years, she had refused because she had felt that she was nowhere near the skill level of an S-class mage. She had wanted to train and hone her skills further before trying out for the exam. She glared at Ria, her eyes promising all sorts of revenge for the false accusation. The silver haired girl swallowed and looked away.

"Still, becoming S-class at the age of ten is pretty awesome!" Natsu enthused, immediately breaking the slightly tense mood surrounding the table. "Right, Happy?"

"Aye!"

"What were the tasks in your exam? It changes every year, doesn't it?" Gray asked in interest. He knew that he had a high chance of being selected for the exam this year so he wanted to be prepared for anything.

"For our first task, we had to collect eight items and bring it with us to the finishing line within the set amount of time. We weren't told what the items were or where they were placed but they made it clear that there weren't enough items for all of us. Only the first two to arrive at the finishing line were allowed to continue. You can probably guess that this caused a lot of fights amongst us. I came second because three people were right behind me and it took me some time to defeat all of them before reaching the line. With only two of us left, we had to fight with our items but we weren't allowed to use magic at all. The last one standing became an S-class wizard which, as you all know, was me."

Gray smirked, "Sounds fun," he said with no little amount of sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh, it really was! I had so much fun that day. Plus it gave me a decent exercise," Lucy agreed happily, completely missing Gray's sarcastic tone.

The ice wizard looked at her in disbelief. "You call that a decent exercise? From what you described, it sounds like total labour. And I thought Erza had a nasty training regime."

"What was that?" Erza asked sharply, without missing a beat.

"Nothing!" Gray squeaked, cold sweat running down his face. Lucy smiled as she basked in the familiar atmosphere of her team. She remembered a similar scene from over four years ago when the four of them were just talking and laughing without a care in the world. She hadn't realized just how much she missed this until in that moment. All of a sudden, a wave of drowsiness swept over her and her eyes started dropping. She desperately tried to keep awake, internally cursing herself for letting her guard down too much. She noticed that everyone else had all but fallen asleep, their bodies limp on the floor. Other than her, only Erza and Makarov seemed to be still conscious but even the requip mage seemed to be struggling to keep her eyes open. With trembling hands, she just about managed to keep upright. Through her heavily lidded eyes, she spotted a mysterious man walking into the guild and taking a request off the board. She had never seen the man before, not even in the other world but something about his presence bugged her. There was a strong sense of familiarity that she couldn't shake off, as if she had met the man countless of times before.

The master watched the man as he approached. "I'll be back," he said, his voice muffled by the cloth he wore over his mouth and nose.

The sleeping spell was apparently not completely ineffective on the master because he looked up a bit sluggishly, his slow movements for once actually suggesting his old age. "Hold it! Lift the sleeping spell first."

The mysterious man wordlessly turned around and headed for the door. "Five. Four. Three. Two." He stepped out into the open air and Lucy's head turned to follow his movement with some difficulty. "One." The sleeping spell lifted and everyone jolted awake. Lucy finally felt the weight on her eyelids lifting itself and her strength returned to her body.

"Who was that man? His face was almost completely covered so I couldn't really see what he looked like," Lucy asked. Deep inside, she felt that she knew the man. Not from the guild but from somewhere else.

"You were able to stay awake?" Gray asked in surprise. "That's pretty impressive considering that his spells are pretty strong."

"Indeed. Even I found myself slipping into unconsciousness," Erza agreed.

Lucy shrugged, "I was just barely conscious. But who is he? He's not in the guild in the other world."

"That's Mystogan. He's one of the strongest members of Fairy Tail along with Laxus and Erza. He puts a sleeping spell on everyone each time he comes to collect a job so only the master knows what he looks like," explained Gray.

"I know what he looks like." The voice came from above them. Lucy turned to see Laxus leaning against the rail on the second floor with his head casually resting on his hand. "Mystogan's shy. Don't bother him so much."

Natsu's eyes snapped open at the voice and he jumped up with his fists clenched. "Laxus! Fight me!"

Laxus sneered. "You think you can take down me, the strongest member of Fairy Tail?"

"Come down you coward!"

"Why don't you come up?" Laxus taunted, unaffected by Natsu's menacing glare.

"Fine by me!" Natsu made a dash for the stairs. The master sighed, enlarging his arm and pinning the pink haired boy to the ground. Natus grunted from the force.

"You're not allowed on the second floor! Not yet," said the master. Lucy glanced at his large hand warily, wondering if that was the treatment she was going to get if she somehow forgets once again that she's not an S-class wizard anymore.

From the second floor, Laxus laughed. "Looks like you got yourself into trouble."

"Laxus! That's enough out of you," Makarov snapped. Laxus ignored him and faced the rest of the guild.

"I won't let anyone take the title of Fairy Tail's strongest! Not even Mystogan or Erza. I'm the strongest!" he shouted. He then walked away with his large fur coat swooshing behind him.

"Looks like Laxus is as egotistical as ever," mused Lucy. She decided not to mention that one time she had beaten the guy, although it was before she had most of her power sealed and when they were very young. To be fair, she also suspected that Laxus had been easy on her. She absentmindedly fiddled with her headphone. _I guess I won't be beating him again anytime soon. _As long as she wore the headphone, her full power was sealed away and in all honesty, Lucy preferred to keep things that way. After all, the last time she had unleashed her full power, she almost became permanently insane. She'd rather be beaten a million times than go through the experience again.

She snapped out of her thoughts in time to see Natsu walking back to their table with a scowl. He plopped down onto the seat opposite Lucy. They were alone on the table with Ria and Happy. Seeing that Natsu was uncharacteristically in a brooding mood, Lucy was rightfully concerned.

"Why don't you pick a job Natsu-san and we can go together tomorrow along with Gray-san and Erza-san," Lucy suggested, trying to break the boy away from his sombre mood. At her suggestion, Natsu got a gleam in his eyes which only made Lucy even more worried. He looked at her thoughtfully. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Natsu slowly nodded, a grin forming on his face.

"Sure."

000

Lucy closed her book with a sigh as she heard her bedroom window sliding open. It was well into night time and everyone else in the dorm had retreated into their rooms. She set the book onto the table and turned, fully expecting to see Natsu climbing through the window. And she was right. The pink haired boy seemed perfectly fine with climbing into a girl's room in the middle of the night without any warning.

"Natsu-san. You do realize that this is a girls' dormitory." It was more of a statement than a question. "Boys aren't allowed in. Erza-san would have your head if she spotted you."

Natsu seemed unconcerned by her warning. He plopped down onto her bed without a care in the world and Happy followed suit, bringing out a fish and nibbling on it. Without her invitation, they had made themselves perfectly at home. Lucy resigned to the fact that this was probably going to become a regular occurrence. She hoped that Natsu would at least have the sense to be discreet.

"Look Lucy, I got us a job!" he said, practically pushing the sheet into her face. She calmly took hold of the sheet and read it over. It was a request to save the cursed island of Galuna and the reward was a hefty 7 million jewels along with a gold zodiac key. That wasn't the problem though.

"Natsu-san," she started slowly. "This is an S-class job."

"Yeah, I took the job off the board on the second floor," Happy said.

"Neither of us are S-class so it's forbidden for us to take this job. Please tell me that you realize this could get us kicked out of the guild."

"You're an S-class wizard," Natsu argued. Lucy sighed and reminded him that she wasn't in Earthland. Natsu shrugged. "Yeah, but if we complete this job, gramps will acknowledge us. If you're not going, I'm going to go alone."

"Why don't you ask Erza-san to come along? Then we'd be allowed," Lucy suggested. Natsu stared at her as if she had grown two heads.

"No way. If we take her, then we wouldn't be proving anything. Besides, she would be really mad that I went to the second floor."

Lucy sighed as she realized that there was no changing Natsu's mind. As much as she didn't want to break the rules, she also couldn't let Natsu go alone in her good conscience. The job was S-class for a reason and at least she had experience taking such jobs whereas this would be Natsu's first time. She knew that she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she let her friend jump into the unknown without her there to keep him out of danger.

"Fine, I'll go. Only because I don't want you to go alone," Lucy relented. Natsu and Happy cheered.

"Great! Meet us in front of the guild first thing tomorrow morning."

000

"Master!" Mirajane shouted as she ran down the stairs. "A job is missing on the second floor!"

Makarov sipped his morning coffee. He breathed in the bitter scent and sighed. He put the cup to his mouth for another sip. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he promptly spat out the mouthful of coffee in his mouth.

"What?!" he yelled hysterically as Mirajane patted his back to sooth his violent coughing.

Macao and Wakaba observed the scene.

"Must have been an S-class job since it was on the second floor," Macao commented.

"Who the hell's stupid enough to take an S-class job without permission?" Wakaba asked.

Laxus, who had been watching the whole ordeal from the second floor, smirked. This was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the annoying flame brat.

"A cat," he said, drawing everyone's attention. His smirk widened when he saw realization dawning on Makarov. "I saw a cat with wings take off with it."

Mirajane gasped, "Happy?!"

"Meaning Natsu and Lucy? What were they thinking?"

"Yeah, you would think Lucy would know better."

"Gramps! This is obviously a breach of rules. You're kicking them out as soon as they come back right?" Laxus shouted, his smirk still in place. Makarov said nothing. Mirajane stomped up the stairs and confronted Laxus.

She put her hands on her hips in a scolding manner. "Laxus! If you saw, why didn't you stop them?"

"I just saw a cat run off with a piece of paper. I never imagined that it would be Happy," he replied. It was obvious that he was lying and Laxus himself knew this but he didn't care.

Makarov looked up. "Wait, which request did they take?"

"The cursed Galuna island," Mirajane answered.

Everyone's eyes widened. They had heard stories of the cursed island, about how the place was crawling with monsters and that anyone who got close enough would turn into one themselves.

"Laxus! Bring them back!" Makarov shouted, panic evident in his voice.

Laxus shrugged noncommittally. "No way. I have my own job to do. Besides, members of this guild are supposed to be able to take care of themselves, right?"

Makarov fumed, "Out of everyone here, who else can bring Natsu back by force?!"

At this, a chair scraped back and Gray stood up. The comment obviously ticked him off. "Gramps. Don't be so insulting. I'll bring that flame-brain back." He strode out of the door and disappeared into the distance.

000

"A boat?" Natsu paled, his face already turning green from just looking at the swaying motion of the vehicle. Up, down, up, down, up, down. He nearly threw up then and there.

Lucy looked at him with an amused expression. "We _are_ going to an island after all," she replied.

Natsu averted his gaze from the boat. "Can't we swim there?" He followed Lucy gaze to the sea and saw that there was absolutely no sign of the island, not even a tiny speck. "Okay, so it's a bit far away."

They approached the nearest free boat. A man was untying the knot anchoring the boat to the port. He looked up as a shadow cast over him.

"Hello, could you take us to the Galuna island?" Lucy asked. The man startled at the question and reeled back as if they were some kind of infectious disease.

"Galuna island?! You people must be out of your minds! I'm not going anywhere near that place!" They were immediately shooed away. This continued with several boats until they came across a lone man setting up his boat. They asked the same question and unlike the others, he did not deny it straight away but calmly explained that no sailors would willingly go there.

Natsu smiled smugly. A little too smugly, in Lucy's opinion.

"See? No one's going to take us there. Why don't you just teleport us to the island?" Lucy ingored his question. In theory, she could in fact simply teleport them to the shore but she wanted to stall the quest even for a bit so that she could try and convince Natsu to pull out. She was almost ready to give up and just take Natsu's advice when she spotted Gray walking towards them from her peripheral vision.

"Gray-san's here," she informed Natsu. They both turned to face the ice wizard who smirked at them.

"Found ya."

Natsu clenched his fists. "Gray, what are you doing here?"

"Gramps asked me to bring you back." Lucy mentally thanked Gray over and over again. She really preferred not to be kicked out of Fairy Tail after recently re-joining. "Let's go," he said.

"Don't screw with me! I'm going on the quest no matter what!" Natsu shouted.

"You directly broke a rule, Natsu! Besides, imagine what would happen if Erza found out," he said the last part with a shudder. This got Natsu to momentarily falter. Happy cried in terror as he flew around. Ria snickered as she watched all the blood drain from Lucy's face. However, it didn't take a second for Natsu to regain his determination in tenfold.

"I'm gonna show Erza what I can do!"

"I'm gonna bring you back no matter what!"

They butted heads and glared at each other. Lucy stepped to the side. Gray encased his fist in sharp bits of ice and Natsu followed by igniting his on fire. This seemed to draw the boatman's attention.

"Wait, you guys are wizards? Are you going to break the island's curse?!" he asked, his voice going up a few volume.

"Yup!" Natsu answered immediately, ignoring Gray's glare.

The boatman stared at them for a while. He quickly gestured them to the boat. "Get in!" Natsu grinned and without a word, he knocked Gray out with a swift kick to his mid-section. He hoisted the ice wizard onto his shoulder and climbed aboard. Lucy followed silently with a sigh, disappointed that Gray proved to be completely useless. She knew that if they didn't hurry, Erza would come after them next and that was a thought she really didn't want to entertain.

The boat journey took them a whole day and it was only towards night time that they could see land in the distance. Gray was tied up tightly with thick ropes and Natsu was leaning over the boat, heaving and mildly throwing up into the sea. Gray glared at the boatman who was looking into the distance.

"You! Why did you agree to take us there?" he asked with a scowl. His voice was laced with frustration and he was obviously beating himself up for not completing master's order.

The man turned to face them. "My name is Bobo and I used to live on the island. I fled from the island because bad things happen to people there. Can you people really lift the curse?" Bobo swept away his cape and showed them his left arm. The arm certainly couldn't be called a human's arm. It was purple and scaly and instead of fingers, he had sharp claws. "This demon's curse…" Bobo trailed off with a dark look. He turned back to the sea. "There it is, the Galuna island."

Lucy and Gray followed his gaze and spotted a lump of land with tall mountains. At the peak of one of the mountains, there was a bright yellow glow. Lucy whirled back around when she suddenly felt the presence of Bobo disappearing. Sure enough, the man was no longer with them on the boat.

"He disappeared…" Lucy muttered. Gray and Happy looked around but there was no sign of the man anywhere.

Ria gulped. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Lucy stared at the island and the glow at the top of the mountain. "Me too, Ria. Me too."


	5. A giant rat and then a giant monster

Lucy opened her eyes with a groan. She immediately hissed as her eyes were exposed to the harsh rays of the morning sun. She vigorously rubbed her eyes in an attempt to adjust to the brightness and took in her surroundings. She was lying on the sand next to the sea and to her left were the remains of the boat they had been travelling on not too long ago. She tried to remember the events of the previous night. The man had disappeared, a huge wave had engulfed them and Lucy had fallen asleep with fatigue before she could even summon Aquarius or teleport to safety. Right. She probably shouldn't have disregarded sleep for over a month but it wasn't as if she could help it. At least none of them were hurt.

She patted her pocket to make sure that Ria was safe and sure enough, the small girl was curled up inside, peacefully sleeping. She shook her head, once again amazed at her friend's ability to literally sleep through _anything. _

"Ugh…where are we?" It was Natsu, who had stirred awake after Lucy. His clothes were dishevelled and his hair was sticking up in all directions, more so than usual. Happy was standing next to Natsu and was checking his bag to see if his fish was still there.

"Good morning, Natsu-san, Happy-san," Lucy greeted as she also got to her feet. Was it morning? She didn't know. The sun was high in the air although it didn't quite look to be midday. Just then, another groan came from their right and they turned to find a half-naked Gray pushing himself off the ground and spluttering out sand from his mouth. "And good morning Gray-san," Lucy finished.

"Is this Galuna Island?" Gray asked as he shook off the sand clinging onto his trousers. The question was rhetorical but Lucy felt compelled to answer him regardless.

"I believe it is," she said. "Quite a coincident that we would conveniently get swept onto the shore of the Island we just happened to be heading for. I smell something fishy."

"Maybe you're just smelling my fish," Happy suggested. Lucy pointedly ignored his input.

Natsu grabbed his belongings which had also been swept up with him. "Who cares? In any case, let's go and explore! I bet there's something hidden on this Island!" he enthused. Happy bounced merrily.

"Aye sir!"

Lucy decided that at this point, it was meaningless to even try and persuade Natsu otherwise so she conceded with a small sigh. After all, as the old saying went: if you can't beat them, join them. That, and a small curious part of her really wanted to get to the bottom of the Galuna Island's mysterious curse. It didn't hurt that the Island also had an exotic feel to it which only fed Lucy's growing interest.

"Lead the way. There's supposed to be a village on this Island and the chief of this village was the one who posted the job. We should try and head there," she said and gestured for Natsu to step forward.

"Wait," Gray called out.

Natsu turned to him with no small amount of ire. "What now? The boat's busted so you can't take us back," he said.

Gray smirked, "Who said anything about taking you back? I'm coming with you guys. Gramps can't complain if we complete this job properly right? I won't let you beat me to the second floor."

The frown was wiped off Natsu's face and the pink haired boy grinned. Gray and he displayed a rare show of friendship by bumping fists together. Lucy clapped them both on the back and pushed them forwards.

"Off to the village, Natsu-san, Gray-san. We don't have all day," she said. Actually, she was sure that they had all the time in the world but she didn't dare risk encountering an angry Erza. It would be beneficial for them all to finish the job as quickly as possible.

It turned out, finding a small village in an unknown island was easier said than done. Lucy had estimated that they would take around 2 hours maximum but they didn't find the village until the sun had long set and it was already dark. During their expedition around the island, Ria had woken up full of energy. The small girl had deemed it appropriate to narrate everything they did on the island in an overly dramatic manner. For example, a snake had slithered down a tree and Ria had commented. _"Will our heroes' fate be sealed with a quick bite of the serpent's fang? What more dangerous things lie in this mysterious island?" _ Lucy had stumbled slightly and Ria had narrated, _"Lucy stumbles on the stray stone lying in her path. Is this a sign of imminent danger? One does not know. Although Lucy puts on a brave face, she is trembling with fear on the inside." _It was getting so ridiculous and at one point, Lucy had had enough and approached Gray to discuss the possibility of encasing Ria in a cube of ice for the remainder of the job. That had effectively shut down the silver haired girl.

**KEEP OUT**

Lucy stared at the sign. "Looks welcoming," she commented. She craned her neck to see the top of the impressively built wall of tree trunks. No one was at the top and no one was around on the ground. At least it seemed to be the mysterious village they were looking for.

"What now?" Gray asked.

"Let's just punch our way through," Natsu suggested.

Ria rolled her eyes, "Do you ever think with your brain once in a while? I think you might find it useful."

"Is anyone there?" Lucy shouted, in a rather half-assed manner. Secretly, she hoped that no one would come so that she could see Natsu breaking down the wall. After half a day of walking through tall grass and trudging her way through the island with nothing eventful happening, she was craving for some excitement. To her small disappointment, two figures appeared at the top of the wall and peered down at the trio.

"Who's there?!" the figures shouted. The tone of their voice was harsh and accusing but guarded and wary all at the same time. Lucy figured they probably had their fair share of problems without having to deal with possibly hostile intruders.

"We're wizards from Fairy Tail and we're here for a job!" Lucy shouted back. She hoped that they would come down or let them in soon because she really didn't like shouting. There was a slight pause, as if the figures were trying to work out whether this was a trick or not.

"Nobody notified us of the job being accepted!" they said, sounding suspicious. Lucy suppressed a wince at the reminder.

"There was probably a mix up of paper work!" Gray lied.

"Show us your marks!" the figures demanded. Lucy lifted up her right hand and showed them her silver Fairy Tail mark. Natsu turned and displayed the red mark on his right shoulder and Gray lifted up his shirt to show them his dark blue mark on his chest. Lucy heard the figures murmuring, most likely discussing their next course of action. Slowly, the wall began to lift up, creating an opening for them to walk in. On the other side of the wall, there was a group of people covered in cloaks waiting.

"It feels like we're walking into a monster's mouth," Happy commented.

"And how would you know what walking into a monster's mouth feels like, Happy-san?" Lucy asked with raised eyebrows. Happy stayed silent as he contemplated his answer. As they walked in, the man holding a strange staff with a crescent moon perched on top began to speak.

"I am Moka, the chief of this village. Let's get right down to business. Please have a look," he said and with no further introduction, he turned to the rest of the group and shouted, "Everyone!"

Immediately, there was a collective sound of cloths falling to the ground as the villagers dropped their disguise. As they revealed their true form, Lucy finally understood why they referred Galuna as a cursed island. Everyone had at least one body part transformed into a beast. It was like Elfman's beast take-over except more permanent.

"Just like the man from the boat," Gray muttered. Natsu seemed unfazed by the big revelation and instead focused on the chief in particular.

"Crazy side-burns!" he exclaimed.

Lucy sighed, still inspecting the state of the villagers. "I'm glad you have your priorities straight Natsu-san." Still, she was curious about the said side-burns so she turned to see for herself. Her eyes widened. "Is that even hair?!" she exclaimed, completely forgetting her earlier disapproval of Natsu's reaction.

"I believe it is," the chief answered dryly. "However, regarding the curse, everything on this island is affected, including animals."

Gray frowned, "What makes you think this is a curse? You sure it's not just some contagious disease?" he asked.

"We've seen many doctors but they said that no such disease exists. And I'm sure the moon's magic has something to do with this," the chief said.

"Moon's magic…" Lucy muttered with narrowed eyes. She had encountered something similar in another world during her dimension-hopping days though she doubted that it worked the same way in this world. As far as she knew, the moon's magic only made people stronger, not take on weird demonic forms.

"This island has absorbed moonlight since ancient times and it made the island shine beautifully. However, some years ago, the moonlight suddenly turned purple," the chief explained.

"Purple moon?" Natsu repeated. Ria looked up instinctively and gasped as she saw a glimpse of something purple peeking out from beneath the clouds.

"The moon's coming out!" Happy said. Everyone looked up and as the moon slowly started revealing itself, a rich shade of purple light covering them from head to toe.

"Damn, this is creepy."

"It's a curse," the chief choked, beads of sweat running down his forehead. "This is the moon's magic." Immediately, cries of pain reverberated through the area as the villagers writhed in agony. Lucy watched as their already transformed arms and legs took on an even more monster-like state.

"What in the world is this?" Gray whispered, shock lacing his voice.

"As you can see," started the now-fully-monster chief. "We turn into these forms whenever the purple moon is out. In the morning, we'll all turn back to normal. However, there are some that lose their mind and never turns back. My son was one of them. I had no choice but to kill him otherwise he would have killed all of us!" tears streamed down the chief's face as he gazed at a photo of his son. Upon closer look, Lucy recognised him as the boat man who had disappeared the night before.

"Isn't that…" Lucy trailed off. Nobody would likely believe them if they said the man had been very much alive barely twelve hours ago.

"A ghost…" Gray muttered. Lucy frowned. It wasn't impossible but it was very unlikely. She felt an unsettling feeling sinking down in her stomach. She felt something big coming, she felt it in her gut. And her gut was never misleading.

The chief bowed his head. "Please, save this island! Before everyone fully become demons…"

"We won't let that happen!" Natsu shouted. "We'll figure something out."

The chief looked up with a shocked expression, as if he had never thought that there would be anyone willing to take the request. When he realized that Natsu, Lucy and Gray were in fact being serious, his face hardened with determination as he stared at the moon with hatred in his eyes. "There is one way to lift the curse. Please destroy the moon."

000

"_Please destroy the moon,_ he said!" Ria fumed. "How in the world are we going to do that?! Hop onto a rocket and drop an atomic bomb onto the surface? Oh wait, they don't even have those in Earthland!" The small girl grumbled as she made herself comfortable in her sleeping place on top of the drawer next to Lucy's sleeping place.

"A rocket?" Natsu asked.

"Atomic bomb?" Gray repeated.

Lucy sent them a look that said 'don't worry about it'. "They're technologies from another world I stumbled across. With their brains alone, they created truly powerful tools that even exceed some magic." Natsu and Gray seemed impressed. For them, it was probably hard to imagine anything more powerful than magic. But Lucy had seen it with her eyes. Although they might not be as powerful or convenient as some magic, they were enough to exceed even Natsu's destructive fire magic.

"But Ria's right, it would be rather impossible to destroy the moon. Disregarding the possibility of whether or not it can be done, the consequences would be too great," Lucy said.

"Yeah. Who knows how many punches it would take," Natsu added.

"Don't be stupid," Gray snapped, "There's no way we can even get close to the moon, let alone destroy it."

Natsu turned to Lucy with expectant eyes. "You can teleport us there."

"There are limits to my powers you know, Natsu-san."

"Then Happy can take us there."

Happy shook his head violently. "No way. That's not happening."

"Then Ria."

"You're kidding right?" Ria deadpanned.

"Well, we can't exactly tarnish Fairy Tail's name by accepting the job and then backing out of it," Natsu argued.

"Who said we're backing out, Natu-san? The request was to save the island. As long as we lift the curse somehow, we've technically done our job."

"Ah, I like technicalities," Gray nodded. Natsu finally seemed convinced, though he looked a bit disappointed, probably because he wouldn't be able to destroy the moon.

Gray took off his shirt and threw it onto ground and continued to take off the rest of his clothes except for his underwear. Lucy didn't even blink at the display, already immune to Gray's tendency to be naked or almost naked. "In any case, let's get some sleep first. Man, walking around the island all day after getting shipwrecked; I'm beat," the ice mage said.

"Alright! We'll investigate the island first thing tomorrow," Natsu agreed as he flopped onto his futon with Happy. Gray followed Natsu's actions and stuffed his face into his pillow. Lucy climbed into her futon slowly and laid there until the two boys were asleep. Once she was sure that they wouldn't wake up, she got out of her cosy sleeping place and walked out of the door. Despite the chief's warning about the moon turning them into demons, she stood in the moonlight as she contemplated about the curse. She didn't mind the dark. Rather, she welcomed it. Between night and day, she honestly preferred the night mostly because there wasn't any sun but she treasured daytime because that was when she made all the fun memories with her friends.

"Couldn't sleep?" a small voice called out. Lucy immediately knew that it was Ria.

"Yeah. You know I can't really get any decent sleep at night."

Ria sighed. "But you won't sleep in daytime either," she stated. It wasn't a question; it was something that the small girl knew and accepted. But it didn't change the fact that Ria still worried about Lucy.

"I can't afford to sleep in daytime. What if I'm needed but I'm too busy asleep? What if Erza-san gets hurt but I'm not there to help? What good would I be if I'm asleep while everyone else is fighting and risking their lives?"

"You're strong Lucy but you're not invincible. You know that. I know that you haven't had some sleep in a while and that's not good. You may be unable to help while you're asleep but that's better than you collapsing in the middle of a fight and getting hurt. I just want you to start thinking of your own safety," Ria said, her voice starting to sound slightly desperate.

Lucy looked at her friend who was on the verge of tears and sighed. "You're right Ria. I'm sorry for worrying you. I promise I'll get some sleep when I can."

"Thank you."

They stayed in that position for a while, just standing there and staring at the purple moon. It was Ria who first broke the silence.

"We should go in now before the moonlight affects us as well."

Lucy reluctantly agreed as she headed for the hut once more. She took one last look at the moon before walking in and climbing back into the futon. For her friend's sake, she desperately attempted to fall asleep. She counted sheep, she counted imaginary stars and she counted Erzas in different armours. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she reached armour number sixty three and slowly fell asleep, welcoming the darkness overtaking her consciousness.

000

Lucy hopped from one foot to another. Even though she had only managed to stay asleep for two to three hours, that alone had refreshed her mind and had filled her body with barely containable energy. Ria was in a similar state, flying anywhere and everywhere and chattering non-stop. The two boys and Happy however, lagged behind listlessly, grumbling about it being too early. As soon as the sun was up, Lucy had immediately woken up the sleeping boys with violent shakes. Her body had been itching to do something for hours and she couldn't contain it any longer. Besides, they had no time to waste.

"This is too darn early."

Lucy stopped. That was one too many complaint for the morning and she was getting slightly tired of hearing them. She turned to face the boys and pulled out a silver celestial key from her pocket dimension. It was the key of the Clock, Horologium.

"Open, gate of the clock, Horologium." From her silver magic circle, a grandfather's clock burst out and produced a pair of arms and a pair of legs. "Either Natsu-san or Gray-san can get inside Horologium and take a rest. I would really prefer it if you stopped complaining," Lucy said, pointing a finger at the clock who obediently recited the time: 5.40 a.m. Natsu and Gray looked at each other. Without a word, both made a mad dash for the clock. Gray beat Natsu by a second and quickly shut himself inside the clock before Natsu could intervene. Ignoring Natsu's indignant shouts, she proceeded to walk ahead.

"'This isn't the most comfortable place though' he says," Horologium monotonously relayed Gray's comment.

"You can always get out Gray-san," Lucy replied easily, without looking back.

"Are you sure we can find a way to lift the curse without destroying the moon?" Natsu asked doubtfully as they continued to walk.

"I'm sure there's a way Natsu-san. Unfortunately for you, you won't be able to find out how hard the moon is," Lucy said.

"'Besides, if the moon gets destroyed, how would we go moon viewing if there's no moon?' he says," came the clock spirit's voice as he trailed behind. Natsu looked as if he had been hit on the head with a hammer.

"You're right! Then there would be no limited-time-only Fairy Tail moon viewing steaks!" he shouted in realization.

"And I would never be able to go on a romantic walks at night with Erza-san," Lucy added.

"I guess we really can't destroy the moon," Natsu slumped in defeat. Obviously, the steak was too much of a sacrifice for him. They were snapped out of their thoughts when the ground shook and heavy footsteps were heard from nearby. With the sheer noise and strength of the footsteps alone, Lucy guessed that the owner of the footsteps was a giant or some sort. She mentally closed Horologium's gate and the clock disappeared without a word. Gray fell to the ground on his arse with a soft thump.

Turning 180 degrees, they were met by the sight of a pair of gleaming eyes and large furry arms. The large shadowed figure was, no matter how you looked at it, a giant rat. The rat chuckled deeply while sounding feminine at the same time. Lucy didn't like rats. Rats weren't tasty at all and she knew this from personal experience.

Lucy squinted at the giant rat. "Is that a maid uniform? That's disturbing. And wrong on so many levels," she said. The rat, as if sensing that something bad was being said about it, let out a loud squeal and emitted a strange gas that spread over the area. Lucy grimaced at the nasty smell and blocked out the scent as best as she could. Natsu was instantly sent to the ground immobilised due to his superhuman senses smelling the gas much more intensely than the rest of them.

"Oh my god, Lucy! Do you ever know when to keep your mouth shut?!" Ria screamed as she pinched her nose and made a dive for Lucy's pocket. At this, the blonde girl had the decency to at least look a bit apologetic.

"Sorry. It just slipped out," she turned to Gray who was still holding his nose as if he's life depended on it. "Since this is my responsibility, I'll take care of this rat. Please take Natsu-san and go ahead. I'll be with you soon." Gray looked hesitant to leave Lucy on her own but he nodded and slung Natsu over his shoulder. Once the boys and Happy were out of sight, she once again faced the rat, which was running towards her with its teeth bared in anger.

She easily leaped out of the way as the rat took a wild swing. Since the rat had a heavy build, its movements were slow, sometimes sloppy and all too easy to dodge. However, Lucy knew that if she were to get hit, the force wouldn't be anything to laugh at. She jumped back to avoid a leg sweep and as soon as she landed, she crouched down and put her palm against the ground. Immediately, four tendrils of silver ropes burst out of the ground beneath the rat and wrapped themselves around each arm and leg. The rat struggled against its binds but the more it struggled, the tighter the restraints became. With a high pitched scream, it once again breathed out the green gas from earlier. Thankfully, Lucy had anticipated this and had already surrounded her body with an airtight barrier that prevented anything outside the barrier from harming her body.

She teleported to the rat and stood on its head. She charged her hands with magic until both of them glowed bright silver. Lucy took a deep breath. She didn't necessarily like doing what she was about to do but she knew from experience that allowing any potential enemies to get away was an unwise idea. Although her opponent was just a rat, she felt a human's presence on it and it definitely wasn't anyone from the village. This meant that people other than Fairy Tail members and Galuna island villagers were on the island and this rat could be their means of attack. She just couldn't risk that happening. Lucy bent down and touched both her hands on the rat's head at the same time and sent the magic crushing through its scull and into its brain. The sheer amount of energy rendered the rat unconscious.

Lucy jumped down from its head as she felt the rat's body losing its energy. She released the binds and watched as the rat fell lifelessly on its back, causing a small scale earthquake. Just to be sure, she took out her key of the Golden Bull and summoned Taurus. The spirit appeared with a jolly 'moo' and his usual greeting of a comment about Lucy's body. Before he could say anything more, Lucy sent him her 'serious' look. From the way his grin was wiped off his face, Lucy knew that he had understood.

"The rat, Lucy-san?" Taurus asked, looking at the fallen body a few meters away.

"Yes. Once you dispose of it, you are free to dismiss yourself."

At Taurus' nod, Lucy teleported herself into the air where she was able to survey the forest for Gray, Natsu and Happy. When she saw two distinct human figures walking towards a large temple, she wasted no time in teleporting herself to stand in front of it. She waved at her friends when they finally arrived after five minutes.

Gray looked at her in surprise. "How did you…" he paused and realisation passed over his face. "Right, teleportqtion. Stupid question."

"Did you beat up the rat? I wish I could have helped you but I really couldn't stand the smell," Natsu said, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the thought of the green gas.

"Yes," Lucy said carefully, "the rat won't be a problem anymore." Before the boys could ask any more questions, she jerked her head towards the temple and changed the topic. "Do you have any idea on what this is?"

Gray shrugged, "Dunno."

"Let's go in and find out!" Natsu shouted, running into the temple without a care in the world.

"Aye sir!" Happy yelled as he followed.

"Must be nice, having such simple minds," Ria mumbled as she peeked her head out of Lucy's pocket.

Lucy and Gray walked in after Natsu and immediately stopped to inspect their surroundings. The inside of the temple was messier than the outside. There were broken pillars and statues dotting the room and piles of rubble were littered all over the floor. It looked as if someone had let loose a rampaging bull on crack that was deprived of sex for at least two decades. Lucy stated as much and was promptly hit by Ria for once again speaking before thinking. As they travelled further in, they spotted several plates of stone with red moon engravings stuck to the walls.

"Something tells me that this temple is just what we were looking for. And we found it in less than two hours. That's pretty impressive," Lucy mused. The sooner they finished the mission, the less chance they had of facing Erza's wrath. Or at least the full brunt of it.

Natsu frowned as he walked around, looking at the mess of the ruins. "But seriously, this place is really messed up. Is this floor even safe?" He experimentally stomped a few times, hard. Unexpectedly, the floor fell apart beneath them and they were sent tumbling into an underground area deep below the ground floor.

"Natsu you idiot!" Gray yelled, as he fell head first. Lucy acted quickly and reached out both her hands to grab her friends before teleporting them to the ground of the underground area in a safe landing. It was then that she realised the floor was still falling above their heads.

"Shit!" she cursed. "Run, everyone!" They quickly moved to safety and watched as slabs of large stones crashed into the spot where they had been standing just seconds ago. Lucy looked around, noticing that they were in some sort of a cave. She brushed herself off.

"Since we're down here anyway, it wouldn't hurt us to explore a bit. We might come across something big," Lucy suggested. She led them through the nearest tunnel. It opened up to a huge clearing where a strange mist was covering the ground. She looked up and her eyes widened when she saw the cause of the mist. She could hear Natsu, Gray, Happy and Ria's shocked gasps but she paid them no attention.

"What the hell is that…?" Natsu muttered. In the middle of the clearing, a monster who seemed to be at least a thousand times bigger than them was trapped inside an ice case. The monster was still like statue, as if it wasn't even real but Lucy could tell that it was the real thing.

"Deliora…?" Gray muttered in disbelief. "What is a Deliora doing here?!" he sounded angry, sad, frustrated and confused all at the same time. Lucy watched through narrowed eyes as Gray approached the huge monster apparently called Deliora.

Natsu shook out of his daze and jogged to Gray. "You know this thing?" he asked in an uncharacteristically soft voice. Gray clenched his fists and looked at the ground. Lucy slowly joined them and put a reassuring hand on Gray's back.

The ice wizard took a deep breath to calm himself. "Deliora…the demon of destruction." He looked up at the Deliora. "He looks exactly the same as then. What the hell's going on?!" Deliora…Lucy had never heard of the monster before. But she could take an educated guess that it was probably a demon of the book of Zeref. Such dark creatures couldn't be from anywhere else. How Gray seemed to know the monster from his past was a mystery to her. The Gray in the other world hadn't mentioned anything about his past during the seven years Lucy had been his friend in Fairy Tail. She was pulled out of her thoughts when Ria frantically nudged her cheek. As she came to her senses, she realized that someone was approaching. She quickly pulled Natsu and Gray to hide behind a rock.

The sound of footsteps became louder and louder until two guys walked into the clearing. One of them strangely resembled a dog with dog ears and was shirtless. The other was short with spiky blue hair and had a pair of ridiculous eyebrows.

"This is where the voices were coming from," the eyebrow guy said, looking around him in suspicion. The dog guy made a sound of agreement. Or at least, that's what Lucy assumed it was. "Toby, have you been sucking in the Moon Drip? You have ears and stuff."

The dog guy, Toby, immediately responded. "No! Get it through your thick head that these are decorations!" he shouted angrily. His voice was shrill and more than slightly annoying in Lucy's opinion. Still, remembering what the eyebrow guy had said, she turned to her friends.

_Moon Drip? _She mouthed questioningly. Gray shrugged and Natsu shook his head. Happy mouthed, _Maybe it's some magic potion. _Ria mouthed, _It might have something to do with the curse on this island. _Lucy, being able to read lips to perfection, nodded. The others however, simply looked at them in confusion. She put a finger to her mouth and nodded in Toby and Eyebrows' direction, indicating that they would have a discussion once they were gone.

"Yuka-san, Toby-san, I have terribly sad news," interrupted a female voice.

"Sherry," Eyebrows (now identified as Yuka) acknowledged. Toby waved and emitted a sound akin to a howl. "Someone killed Angelica," she continued with anger lacing her voice. Despite her posture, Lucy could tell that the girl was immensely upset. Her tone promised vengeance to the killer of 'Angelica'. Lucy took a wild guess that Sherry was probably talking about the rat from earlier.

"The rat?!" Toby yelled, sounding angry and surprised. In fact, the guy seemed to be permanently angry. Lucy winced when her suspicion was confirmed. Natsu, Gray and Happy looked at her in shock. She hadn't exactly told them how she had 'taken care' of the rat. Lucy gave them a look that told them to drop the subject.

Sherry looked up sharply. "She's not a rat! Angelica is…_was _a hunter who raced through the darkness. And…love!" she said with a dreamy expression. The expression soon turned sour as she glared. "But now she's dead and so is love! I will not forgive the person who had killed Angelica!"

"Intruders…huh?" Yuka said.

Sherry sighed, still depressed over Angelica's death. "Just when the moonlight's nearly gathered. Why did Angelica have to die?! Let's get rid of the intruders before the Cold Emperor hears of this. And for the sake of Angelica!"

"No one's doing it for the rat!" Toby shouted.

"We will give the intruders eternal death, like Angelica. In other words…love!" Sherry continued, ignoring Toby's interruption.

"You mean death," Toby said weakly. Apparently, he was no match for Sherry's weirdness.

Lucy signalled to Happy. The cat nodded and flew into the air discreetly whilst Toby, Sherry and Yuka were deep in conversation. He threw a pebble in the direction of the tunnel. The sound of it hitting the ground alerted them immediately and they wasted no time in chasing after the imaginary intruder. Once they were out of sight, Natsu, Lucy and Gray waited a moment to make sure they were not coming back before coming out from their hiding place.

"We should have captured them and interrogated them," Natsu complained.

"We could have but I think it's for the best if we find out a bit more before confronting them," Lucy said.

"More importantly, I want to know how they managed to find the place where the Deliora was sealed."

"Where it was sealed?"

"Yeah. This thing was sealed in an iceberg in the northern continent. My master Ur who taught me magic risked her life to seal it away." Gray clenched his fists. "I don't know what it has to do with this island's curse but this isn't something that should be here! Cold Emperor… you'll pay if you tarnish Ur's name!"

"Is it possible to melt this ice?" Lucy asked.

Gray shook his head. "No. Ur cast a spell called Iced Shell on the demon. This ice cannot be melted."

But obviously, these people have found a way. Lucy didn't have to say it to make Gray understand. There was still too much they didn't know. How were they going to melt the ice? Does this relate to the curse? Why are they doing this? So many questions. If they had captured the three from earlier, Lucy was sure that at least some would have been answered. But would it change anything? Lucy somehow doubted that.

"I think," Gray started, "that we should wait here until the moon comes out. I have a feeling that we'll get some answers if we do."

"Or we can just beat up those guys and interrogate them," Natsu suggested. Happy nodded, always supporting Natsu's argument.

"There's no guarantee that they would be able to answer all of our questions. We'll only be exposing ourselves. This way, at least we have the advantage of surprise," Ria said in a calm voice.

Natsu stomped the ground like a child throwing a tantrum. "But it's still morning! I'm gonna be bored out of my mind. There's no way I'm just staying here. I'm gonna go after them!" As soon as he finished his little declaration, he dropped to the ground and started snoring loudly.

Lucy looked at the sleeping boy in mild amusement. "I suppose this is my fault for waking Natsu-san up so early. Well, this way, at least we won't be hearing his complaints."

"Thank god," Ria muttered.

"Don't be so mean to him, Ria. I can understand how he feels. It's not as if I enjoy sitting in the same place doing nothing for over twelve hours," Lucy chided. Ria grinned cheekily and blew her a raspberry in response. Lucy sighed at her friend's immaturity. Ria really shouldn't be scolding Natsu about his childish behaviours.

Lucy sat down and pulled out a pack of cards from her pocket dimension. "Since we're going to be here for a long time, would you like to play poker?"


	6. In the wake of the Deliora

"Checkmate."

Natsu groaned. He abruptly stood up, flipped the chessboard over and set it on fire before smashing it into pieces. Lucy watched with wary eyes. _There goes my chessboard. _After two hours of playing poker, they had moved onto chess. Unfortunately, the pink haired boy wasn't exactly the best at thinking over strategies and visualising the opponent's possible next moves in his head. Ria had been a much better opponent. Heck, even Happy did a better job than Natsu. Lucy had half a mind to say this to Natsu just because she was kind of upset that her only chessboard was now a pile of ash. If only Erza was there, Lucy lamented. Now _that _would be an enjoyable match, _in more ways than one._

Lucy blinked as her thoughts travelled to a rather inappropriate direction. She shook her head before the images flashing through her mind could become not so PG. She refused to believe that she was _that _kind of person. She was not perverse. But then again, she did think that Mirajane had her own appeal in many areas and…no! Damn, she desperately needed something to get her away from her own thoughts. Lucy reached pulled out the silver key of the Lyre and summoned Lyra.

"Hi Lucy! It's been so long!" Lyra greeted enthusiastically, waving her hand frantically. "Mou, you hardly ever call me!"

"Sorry Lyra, I've been a bit busy lately. Besides, I can only call you three times a month remember?"

Lyra sheepishly scratched her cheek, "Oh yeah." She quickly changed the topic. "So, what can I sing for you today?"

Lucy shrugged. "Whatever you feel like is fine."

Lyra squealed in joy as she immediately set herself up. Slowly, she began to strum a gentle melody on her harp. Its lilting quality and swaying tempo caused Lucy to closer her eyes with a smile. She remembered the song. After her mum's death, Lyra would often materialise using her own power and sing this song to her to sooth her lonely heart and stop her tears. It brought back pleasant memories of her family before her mum's death. She had kept these memories in the back of her mind for a long time but they were all being pulled to the front and she saw the images flashing before her mind's eye. She slowly opened her eyes as she felt the song coming to an end. Her eyes flickered to Gray who was sitting away from her and Natsu. She could tell that he was still upset and decided not to mention the tears running down his cheeks.

"Lyra, I think you should sing a more upbeat song now," Lucy quietly suggested. The spirit nodded happily before strumming a jolly tune on her harp. When her time was up, Lyra bid them goodbye with a wave and a hug for Lucy before disappearing with a 'poof'. The silence that fell over them this time around seemed all the more suffocating. Lucy could see that Natsu had decided that whining about being bored just wasn't worth his energy so he had once again fallen asleep. Lucy wondered how it was possible to be able to fall asleep so quickly. Maybe once upon a time, she could have done it, but not anymore.

"I can't take this anymore," Ria suddenly announced. She was in the middle of a lazy cartwheel in the air. "This is too boring. Let's do something. You have to say anything you associate with the word 'beautiful' that starts with each letters of the alphabet. I'll go first: Angels."

"Blood," Lucy said with a straight face. Ria sent her a sharp look that made Lucy falter. Okay, bad joke. It was meant to be funny in a self-deprecating sort of way but obviously Happy didn't understand the reference and Ria wasn't too amused. "Booties," she corrected with a smile, in an attempt to soothe the small girl's mood. It did the trick as Ria grinned and wiggled her eyebrows in a suggestive way. Lucy good naturedly rolled her eyes.

"Carp," Happy joined. Trust him to involve a fish reference in everything.

"Dairy products," Ria said as it came back to her turn.

Lucy continued without missing a beat. "Erza-san."

Ria snorted loudly. "Oh my god, I saw that one coming a hundred mile away. Sometimes, you can be so predictable Lucy."

"She liiikes her," Happy drawled.

"Indeed I do," Lucy nodded with an easy smile. It was quickly replaced with a grimace as she was once again reminded of their current situation. They had broken a rule and had technically disobeyed the master. Knowing Erza, they weren't going to be let off easily. Lucy sighed and shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind. There was no point in dwelling over her mistakes now. She continued to play the word game with Happy and Ria for a while until even that became boring. Happy drifted off to sleep next to Natsu and Ria was dozing off. Lucy gently placed her friend onto a slab of flat rock to allow her to sleep better.

Lucy estimated the time to be just after midday. What she was going to do for the rest of ten or so hours, she had no clue. She would join her friends and sleep if she could but the fact remained that sleep did not come easily to her. She looked over to Gray. He was still sitting close to the frozen Deliora but there were subtle changes in his posture. His shoulders were slumped and his head was hung low. His breathing was slow and deep, an obvious sign of slumber. She surveyed the cavern and realised that everyone was now asleep except for her.

She sighed and pulled out a book from her pocket dimension. She hadn't stored many in her space since she had not considered that she would have time to leisurely read books on an S-class mission. Apparently, she was sorely mistaken. She would have to read the book slowly. _Very very _slowly. She flicked to the first page.

000

Just as Lucy finished her seventh book, the whole cavern started to shake. She closed her book with a 'snap' and looked at the ceiling sharply. She observed as bits of rocks started crumbling down and into the deep pit where the Deliora was situated. The others slowly stirred awake at the noise of rocks hitting against each other.

"What? What's going on?" Natsu shouted as he immediately jumped to his feet. Happy groggily opened his eyes and looked around. Ria, as always, remained undisturbed. Gray also shot to his feet as if he had been poked with an electric rod. Almost immediately, a purple magic circle formed on the ceiling and emitted out a thick pillar of purple light directly onto the Deliora.

"Purple light…just like the moon," Lucy commented.

"What's going on?!" Happy shouted. Gray stared at the purple light in silent shock. However, he quickly snapped out of his daze and ran for the exit leading to the ground floor.

"Hurry! Find the source of the light!" he ordered. It was at this point that Ria finally woke up. She took one look at Gray, one look at the purple light and quickly added up the dots. Lucy waited for the girl to come to her senses fully. By the time Ria was fully functioning, Natsu, Gray and Happy were already out of sight. Lucy patted her shoulder and the silver haired girl complied without a word. Together, they teleported to the top of the temple. The place seemed to be a ruin of a circle arena and in the middle, a group of people wearing masks and robes stood in a circle and chanted foreign words. Lucy joined Natsu and Gray behind the half knocked down remains of the arena wall and observed.

"What the hell is that?" Natsu asked. Nobody answered his question because nobody knew what the answer was. One could only guess. Lucy looked up at the sky. As she had guessed, the light's source was the moon which hung directly above the ruined temple. But why was the light being shone onto the Deliora? It didn't make sense. She would need more information.

Lucy turned to Ria. "Do you think you know anything about this?" Ria frowned as she closed her eyes and concentrated. She opened her eyes again after a while and shook her head regretfully.

"No. I don't have any data about purple moonlight."

Since Ria didn't know, that left the last option. Lucy honestly didn't want to do it but she was desperate for some answers. She pulled out a silver key: the key of the Southern Cross, Crux. The old cross appeared in all his wise glory and floated slightly above the ground with his legs crossed.

"What can I do for you today?" the old cross asked. Lucy gestured towards the gathering of masked people and pointedly looked at the purple moonlight.

"Can you explain what they're doing?"

Crux took one look at the moon and closed his eyes. He body slumped and he fell completely silent.

"Oi, is he sleeping?" Natsu asked.

Lucy put a finger to her mouth. "Shh. He's thinking. Crux knows about everything and anything. He can definitely answer some questions."

Crux suddenly awoke with a loud shout, startling everyone but Lucy and Ria who were accustomed to such behaviour. However, the blonde wizard couldn't help but cringe at the volume of the noise. This was exactly why she was reluctant to summon Crux. He was a bit loud. Apparently, the people in the middle hadn't heard anything, most likely too concentrated with their chanting.

"So? What did you find?" Lucy urged the cross. They didn't have all night to hear the answer.

"It seems that they're performing Moon Drip, which is a Belianese spell. It's a spell of focused moon energy and it is said to be able to break any spell at all," Crux informed. Just as he finished, he closed his eyes and his body slumped again.

"Is he thinking again?" Happy asked. Lucy closed the gate to Crux and sent him back to the spirit world.

"No. That was him actually sleeping."

"A spell that can break any other spell…" Gray muttered. "And they're shining that directly onto Deliora. You don't think..?!" his eyes widened as he arrived at the true motive of the people performing the Moon Drip. Lucy nodded grimly. Natsu looked between them with confusion in his eyes.

"What? What's going on? I don't get it," he complained.

"They're trying to melt the Deliora, you dumb flame-brain," Gray snapped.

Happy sweated nervously as he thought back to the giant monster from the book of Zeref. "That sounds a bit bad…"

"You don't say," Ria said.

"Damn! They don't even know the terror of Deliora and they're performing this reckless spell!" Gray growled in anger as he clenched his hands into a tight fist. Before anything further could be said between them, Lucy shushed them all as Sherry, Toby and Yuka came into view. They were led by a man wearing a white cloak and a helmet with goat horns protruding from it. Lucy almost burst into laughter at the ridiculous sight but she held it back by pressing her lips tightly together. Instead, she listened in on their conversation.

"Damn, I feel sleepy because we woke up during the day. We didn't even find the intruders," Yuka grumbled. Lucy inwardly rolled her eyes. _Maybe you would have if you had come back to the cavern. But no, search for the intruders by going to every corner of the island but never check the cavern, where the noise actually came from. _Lucy could already guess that these people probably weren't the brightest crayons in the box.

"It is sad Cold Emperor," Sherry said as she stopped next to the man wearing the stupid goat helmet. The Cold Emperor looked at the woman who took this as a sign to continue. "It appeared that there had been intruders during the day but they got away. Moreover, I can't find Angelica anywhere nor can I sense her presence so I have concluded that she was killed by the intruders."

"Intruders… it matters not. I will take care of them when the time comes," the Cold Emperor said as he subtly brushed aside the topic of Angelica. "When will the Deliora be revived?"

"It appears either today or tomorrow," Sherry replied.

"I see. How about the villagers? Is there any change in the situation?"

"It appears that they have called for help with their…condition. I suspect that the intruders are wizards from a guild taking on their request, whatever it may be."

There was a pause before the man threw out his arm and ordered, "In that case, eradicate the village. I'm not too fond of blood but I will not have any interruptions."

Toby, Yuka and Sherry bowed as they made a confirmative noise. Lucy could see that Natsu was becoming enraged.

"Eradicate the village?! Even though they don't have anything to do with this," Natsu whispered angrily. She predicted that any moment soon, the boy will jump out and demand a fight. That was just who Natsu was and it had its good points sometimes. Lucy could understand why he was so angry although she didn't feel as strongly about it as Natsu seemed to. Gray on the other hand, stayed silent throughout the whole ordeal. He seemed to be shocked though at what, Lucy had no idea.

"Alright! I'm sick of sneaking around!" Natsu shouted as he jumped into plain sight. "We're the ones who came to interfere!"

Lucy sighed as she stood up. She knew that this would happen. But she didn't entirely mind Natsu's way of doing things. Rather, it gave her a breath of fresh air from herself since she would have done nothing of the sort if she was alone on the mission. She waved at the shocked spectators with a smile. It was the polite thing to do after all.

"That mark! They're wizards from Fairy Tail," Sherry gasped as she snapped out of her shock. The Cold Emperor, however, seemed unfazed by their sudden interruption. If anything, he seemed amused by the turn of events. No, rather than amused, it seemed almost smug. Maybe Lucy was just reading too much into things.

"What are you doing? Go eradicate the village," he repeated. Lucy looked at him sharply. Judging from his behaviour, she hadn't thought that he would be the ruthless type.

"Why?!" Natsu asked in shock.

"Anyone who stands in my way is enemy," the man replied simply. _And he's pretty simplistic. I can pretty much guess how his mind works. It's black or it's white, huh?_

Natsu shouted in anger as he charged forward with his fist pulled back. Before he could take more than three strides, he was overtaken by an even angrier Gray who had his hands ready to perform his ice magic as he flew past Natsu and ran towards the man.

"Stop this stupid farce this instant!" Gray shouted as he leapt into the air and brought his hands down to the floor in one swift motion. Spikes of ice shot up from the ground and headed for the man and the trio in a rapid pace. They jumped back to evade the icicles. The man thrust out his hand in mid-air and copied Gray's action, causing an identical reaction as even spikier icicles clashed with Gray's more block-shaped ones. Both side shattered at the same time from the impact and sent particles of ice flying through the air.

Happy gasped, "He's an ice user as well?!"

"Gray's acting a bit weird," Ria observed. Lucy couldn't help but agree with her friend. Gray was acting weirder than usual. He seemed more hot-headed…almost like Natsu.

"Lyon!" Gray snarled with a fierce expression. Natsu and Happy's eyes grew wide as they stared at their long-time comrade. Even Lucy was a bit surprised, despite having had a tiny suspicion earlier. She hadn't expected her suspicion to be true though. Now the question was, how exactly did Gray know this man?

"Damn you…do you even realize what you're doing?!" Gray asked, his voice rising up in volume.

Lyon chuckled. "It's been a while, Gray. To think you'd be one of the wizards the villagers had called. Did you come here knowing this or was it pure coincidence? Not that it makes a difference."

"An acquaintance of yours, Cold Emperor Lyon?" Yuka questioned.

Lyon ignored his question. "Get going. I'll take care of this myself."

"Hah!" The three chorused before disappearing with a flash.

"Oh no you don't!" Natsu shouted as he started running towards the village.

"Natsu! Don't move!" Gray yelled after him.

But he was too late. Lyon had already started casting his spell. Natsu looked around himself frantically as frost surrounded him. Just as a bit of ice started forming on his body, Natsu disappeared from the frost. Lyon looked startled for a second before he quickly masked his expression. Natsu now stood a few meters away, looking around in confusion as he noticed that he was no longer in the middle of the mist.

A fraction of a second later, Lyon was sent flying back and crashing into the ruins. In his old place stood Lucy who lowered her fist and sent Gray a meaningful look.

"I'll leave him with you, Gray-san," Lucy said before reappearing at Natsu's side. She put a hand on his shoulder and sent Natsu a silent message. Natsu nodded in understanding.

He turned to Gray and thrust his fist into the air. "You better beat him up good, Gray! Or I'll come and kick both of your asses!"

Gray blinked out of his surprise and smirked. "I don't need you telling me that! You better protect the village and not sully Fairy Tail's name or I'll come and beat you up!"

Lucy smiled back. "There's no need for you to worry about us. Just concentrate on your fight, Gray-san."

"Yeah, you better win Gray!" Ria yelled from Lucy's pocket. Happy nodded in agreement and with that, they disappeared.

"I see," Lyon said as he dusted himself off. "It appears that I have underestimated your friends. That girl had quite a punch. I'm impressed she was able to tell that the spell I casted wasn't an ordinary one. Or was it a mere coincident?"

"That wasn't a coincident Lyon. Underestimating Fairy Tail wizards will be your downfall," Gray replied back.

"I see you're as cocky as ever Gray. After all these years and you still never change."

"Could you quit acting like my superior, Lyon? You're no longer Ur's disciple," Gray bit back.

"And neither are you, Gray."

000

"Listen up, everyone! Soon, three people are coming to attack us and they're the cause of this curse. Make sure you're safe in your house and don't take one step outside unless we say so," Natsu said to the villagers gathered outside. Thanks to Lucy's teleportation, they had arrived at the village before the other three had and the village was safe and intact.

"Enemies?! Are they powerful?!" a villager shouted out in panic.

"We don't know but don't worry. We will definitely defend this village in the name of Fairy Tail. Once we capture them, they may even know a way to break your curse," Lucy said. At this, the villagers seemed much more reassured as they murmured amongst themselves, some even rejoicing at the prospect of breaking the horrible curse.

"What about the moon?" The chief asked frantically as he stepped forward. "Did you destroy the moon?"

Lucy sighed. She had forgotten about the chief and his obsession with destroying the moon. "No, but there may be another way of breaking your curse so there's no need to destroy the moon."

"That won't do! You must destroy the moon!" the chief raged. "Why can't you destroy the-" he was cut off as Lucy pressed two fingers just beneath his ear on his pressure point and put him to sleep.

"Sorry," Lucy apologised to the unconscious chief without actually feeling sorry. "It was for the best. I can't have you moving on your own and causing a distraction."

Just then, there was a loud noise of wood splintering into pieces. Lucy turned and saw that the trio had arrived.

"Hurry! Everyone get into your houses!" Lucy warned. Immediately, the villagers ran to the refuge of their home and firmly shut the door. An eerie silence filled the area as the opposing enemies stared at each other.

Then, without a warning, Natsu charged forward towards Yuka and Toby. He shouted, "Lucy! You take care of the other one! I'll take on these two."

Lucy nodded. "Please don't destroy the whole village Natsu-san."

"Yeah, otherwise there would have been no point in telling everyone to take shelter," Ria added.

"And if you finish the fight, could you please go and check up on Gray-san? I have had a bad feeling about him for a while," Lucy asked.

"Sure! Meet up in the village later!"

After a sharp nod, Lucy quickly teleported to Sherry and grabbed her arm tightly before whisking her far away from the village. They ended up in a forest near the coast of the island. Lucy slacked her grip and allowed Sherry to wrench herself out of her hand.

"What is the meaning of bringing me here alone?" Sherry questioned as she jumped away to gain some distance between them.

"It's just that as a Fairy Tail member, I can't allow our guild's name be tainted because of me. That's why I want to come clean," Lucy said. That, and to decreases the chances of Toby and Yuka interfering their fight.

"About what?" Sherry asked suspiciously.

"I killed your…Angelica, was it?" Lucy said. "You can hate me all you want and I won't blame you if you try to kill me. However, that doesn't mean that I'm not going to retaliate. I just wanted you to know that."

Lucy prepared herself for an attack, an accusing yell and promises to kill her, anything. What she definitely wasn't prepared for was tears. Lucy watched awkwardly as more tears trickled down Sherry's cheeks. If there was one thing she couldn't handle, it was people crying. A monster, she could handle any day but give her a crying girl and she was at a loss. Was she supposed to pretend she wasn't there? Was she supposed to offer words of comfort? If she had to choose, it would be the first option because she had no clue how to comfort crying people. But since she didn't know what to do, she simply watched in silence.

Finally, Sherry spoke up. "How dare you, young lady?!" she choked out through her tears. "Reitei-sama's trust in me has already fallen like a rock because of you and now Angelica too…I won't forgive you!"

"Oh..uh.." Lucy scratched her cheek. What now?

"Idiot!" Ria hissed, "she's going to attack you! What are you doing just standing there?"

Sherry furiously wiped her tears. "Wood doll!" A pink magic circle appeared and a shadow casted over Lucy. She turned around to see a tree moving towards her with its branches outstretched. When it was close enough, the tree swung down its thicket branch at Lucy. She easily evaded the attack and watched the tree's movements with interest. Giving life to inanimate objects? No, that wasn't it. She had a theory but would need to test it out.

She pulled out Taurus' key. "Taurus!" The spirit appeared with his usual gusto, swinging his large axe enthusiastically.

Sherry's eyes widened. "A Celestial wizard. And it's one of the Zodiac gates! Then how can she use teleportation magic as well?" she muttered to herself.

"Lucy-san! This is the second time today that you've summoned me. You must be in a dire situation," Taurus commented. He then ran an appreciative gaze up and down her body. "As always, you've got a really nice body! Although I would prefer a revealing dress, I could get used to trousers and T-shirts just for you."

"How considerate of you," Lucy deadpanned.

"Speaking of T-shirts…" Taurus trailed off as he stared pointedly at Lucy's T-shirt.

Lucy looked down at her blue shirt. A golden saxophone was printed in the middle and underneath it said: 'I feel do damn blue' in bold, black font. "What about my shirt?" she asked.

"You have a bad taste as always," Taurus said. Ria silently disagreed. She for one really liked all of Lucy's T-shirts.

The blonde wizard frowned. "What, no I don't…you know what, it doesn't matter. Anyway, get rid of the moving tree and stay still. I want to test out a theory."

"Moo!" he replied and shot forward. He sliced down the tree in one movement and then stood still as ordered.

"Hm! Celestial wizards are at a disadvantage against me," Sherry said as she smirked. This made Lucy's theory almost certain. Now she just needed to have evidence. She gestured for Taurus to attack Sherry. He obliged and ran towards the pink haired girl. Suddenly, he stopped. Lucy watched with attentive eyes. Slowly, Taurus turned around and charged towards Lucy with his eyes glowing. Just as he was about to reach her, Lucy raised her hand and dismissed the spirit.

"I'm sorry Lucy-san…" Tarus said, "I don't know what came over me."

Lucy shook her head. "No, you did your job Taurus. Thank you." Taurus gave her a thumbs up as he faded away. She looked Sherry directly into the eyes. "It looks like my theory was right. You're able to control anything but humans, am I right?" She didn't need a verbal confirmation. Sherry's shocked look said it all.

"What…how did you close the gate?! Weren't gate closures supposed to be done by the spirit and the summoner together?! I didn't think that there would be a Celestial wizard capable of doing that. I've miscalculated."

"What you don't understand," Lucy started as she slowly started walking towards Sherry, "is that this isn't even me trying. If I choose to, I can beat you in a heartbeat or even kill you just as easily. But I've taken an interest in your magic. I need you to show me more."

Sherry subconsciously took a step back. Realizing what she was doing, she scowled in anger. "Don't be so cocky! I know that you're just bluffing!"

Lucy smiled, "Is that so."

"I'll get you back for what you did to Angelica! Doll control, rock doll!" Dozens of large rocks rose into the air and moulded together to create a large rock golem. The golem groaned and lifted its arm. It began to swing its arm down onto Lucy after gaining enough momentum. Upon making contact with Lucy's head, the hand broke into small pieces and the force of the blow sent the destruction all the way to its shoulder. Lucy had quickly put up a hard solid barrier around her body using her silver magic.

Sherry gasped in shock. "What did you do?!"

Lucy smiled in response. "That's my secret." She jumped high into the air and using purely her arm strength, sent the rock golem flying backwards with a punch to its face. Immediately, the face crumbled and Sherry, who had been standing on top of the golem, fell hard onto the ground. Sherry panicked and she thrust out her hand desperately, willing the rock doll to smash Lucy into the ground with its whole body. The rock doll obliged and jumped into the air above Lucy. Before she could counteract, there was a flash of glinting metal and the rock doll fell to the ground, sliced into two pieces.

Lucy blinked as she caught sight of Erza landing gracefully with a sword held in her hands.

She blinked again. Wait.

"Shit!" she cursed to herself. She had almost forgotten about Erza.

"Lucy, you're doomed," Ria said and with that, disappeared into her pocket, no doubt trying to avoid being caught up in Erza's wrath. Unfortunately, Lucy had to agree. She was indeed doomed. And so was Natsu and Gray. She would have to get through this alone for the time being.

She put on an extra cheerful smile as she approached the requip wizard. "Hello, Erza-san! It's great to see you!" She winced as she was met with an enraged glare. She slumped in defeat. "I shall accept any punishment given to me."

Just then, Happy's voice called out, "Lucy! Natsu asked me to check on…you…" he trailed off as he saw Lucy kneeling on the floor in front of a furious Erza. He didn't get very far before Erza caught him by his tail.

"Where's Natsu?" she asked Lucy in a steely voice. She would explain the situation and attempt to gain their help for the time being if she was talking to anyone else but she was talking to Erza and she knew exactly how the girl could get if someone were to break Fairy Tail's rules. So instead, she simply told the truth.

"Last time I saw him, he was fighting Yuka and Toby in the village," she replied. It was then that she caught movement from the corner of her eyes. From her peripheral vision, she could see Sherry trying to slip away without gaining their attention. Lucy inwardly cursed. On one hand, she really shouldn't make Erza any angrier than she already was but on the other hand, it could prove to be troublesome if she let Sherry get away. In the end, her second argument won out and she quickly teleported to Sherry and pressed the back of her neck with enough force to put her to sleep. She then quickly reappeared next to Erza who gave Lucy a warning stare.

"We're heading to the village," Erza said. "Lead the way." While they walked to the village, Lucy explained the situation in detail. It didn't matter that Erza didn't respond or express interest. It just mattered that she was listening.

By the time they entered the village, the villagers were already gathered behind the broken gate. Upon seeing Lucy returning, they collectively cheered as they thanked her for protecting the village. However, the cheers soon died down when they saw the suffocating atmosphere surrounding her and the female companion who stood behind her holding Happy. They wisely dispersed and steered clear of Lucy and Erza. Lucy led her to their lodgings where they had slept in the previous night. Erza silently sat down with her legs crossed and Lucy followed, equally as silent. Happy cowered in the corner as he silently prayed for Natsu's safety.

000

Next day in the afternoon, the door opened and Gray walked in. His face was scratched up and he had bandages wrapped around his abdomen and his chest. He expressed his surprise when he saw Erza sitting crossed-legged, sporting the scariest glare he had ever seen.

"Erza?! Lucy and Happy as well!"

"Where's Natsu-san?" Lucy asked.

Gray shook his head. "I don't know. After I was defeated by Lyon, he came to the ruins and took me back here. I don't really remember anything after arriving at the village."

"Gray. I heard what happened from Lucy and frankly, I don't care. It doesn't change the fact that you have betrayed Master's trust. As soon as Natsu gets back, I'm dragging you back to the guild and you'll receive your punishments," Erza said in an absolute tone.

"What are you saying, Erza? If you heard about the situation, then you would know what's going on in this island!" Gray protested.

Erza looked up with an indifferent expression. "What of it?" Gray stared at Erza in shock. He knew that she would be angry but he hadn't ever seen Erza behaving like this before. "I came to bring back rule-breakers. I have no interest in anything else."

"Didn't you see how the villagers look like?"

"I saw."

"And you're just going to leave them looking like that?!"

"The request has been posted to every guild. Would it not be better to let other guild Wizards take on the job officially?"

Gray frowned. "I misjudged you, Erza!"

Lucy watched with a solemn expression as Erza slowly turned to stare at Gray with a piercing glare. "What did you say? Do you intend to break the guild rules as well?" She brought out a sword and pointed it Gray's neck. "You won't get away with it."

There was a pause and Lucy observed Gray intensely. This was a crucial moment for Gray and as much as she would always stick by Erza's side, she would also help Gray if he chose to go ahead with the mission. After all, one of her primary beliefs was that one should reconcile with their past at some point in their life and that belief was what got her to Earthland in the first place.

Instead of flinching away as usual, Gray took hold of the sword and directed it to his chest. He levelled Erza's glared with a determined face. "Do what you must. This is a path I've chosen. It's something I've got to do." Gray slowly let go of the sword and walked to the door. "I'm going to finish this. If you're going to cut me down, do it." With that, he walked out of the door, leaving Erza gritting her teeth in anger.

Lucy smiled as she stood up. "This is Gray-san's path. A path that I also believe he should take so I will fully support him with his decision. Natsu-san and I took him here by force so the punishment should only apply to us. What will you do, Erza-san?"

Erza directed her glare at Lucy. This time, Lucy simply smiled back and waited for the requip wizard's answer.

Erza softened her glare into a stern frown. "This situation is unacceptable. We'll continue this after the present problem is solved."

Lucy grinned. "Right!" They walked out of the door and ran after Gray who could be seen in the distance. Once they caught up with the ice wizard, Erza stiffly explained that punishment will come after completing the job. Gray then in turn explained his past with Ur and Lyon and told them that Lyon's goal was to defeat the Deliora and surpass Ur.

"Lyon has always wanted to surpass our teacher, Ur. Now that she's gone, he wants to defeat the Deliora, the monster that even Ur couldn't defeat in order to reach his goal," Gray explained.

"I see. Like I thought, his mind really is simple," Lucy said.

"But Lyon doesn't know…he doesn't know that although Ur is gone, she's still alive!" Gray said. Happy and Erza stared at him in surprise. They had thought that 'gone' implied dead but apparently Ur was still alive. It made next to no sense.

Ria popped out of Lucy's pocket now that Erza was no longer in a furious rage. "She's living in the ice…right?"

Gray looked at the girl in shock. "How did you know?"

"When you first mentioned that she had died defeating the Deliora with a spell called Iced Shell and that the ice surrounding the monster can't melt, something bugged my mind. It reminded me strongly of something I had heard in passing back on Earth. I didn't think too much about it until now. The powerful ice spell: Iced Shell. Hardly anyone uses it because the price of casting that spell is that you become the ice," Ria explained.

"I see. Where is this Earth you mentioned? It sound a lot like our world," Erza questioned.

"It's the other world where I first joined Fairy Tail. Earthland and Earth are very similar. In fact, so far I can't detect any differences except for the fact that Elflings don't exist on Earthland," Lucy said.

Ria looked down darkly. "Not that they exist on Earth either. Not anymore," she muttered. Erza was just able to hear the inaudible mutterings and sent the girl an understanding gaze. Gray was the one who broke the silence that settle between them.

"Come on, let's head to the ruins," he said. Lucy nodded and put one hand each on Erza and Gray. After making sure that Happy was holding on, she teleported them to the ruins. As they stood outside the ruins of the temple, Lucy noticed that the temple was tilting to the left. She smiled at Natsu's surprisingly well thought-out plan. It was a shame that the boy only seemed to be able to use his brain in situations like this.

Before they could approach the temple, several glints coming from the woods caught her eyes. Relying on her instinct, she grabbed Happy and jumped into the air just in time to avoid several crescent shaped blades that had been hurtled at them. Gray and Erza did the same and deftly evaded all the oncoming blades.

"Who's there?!" Erza demanded as she stayed on her guard. A large group of masked people emerged from their hiding place. It was the people who had been chanting in the ruins the night before.

"We've finally found you, Fairy Tail! We won't allow you to interfere with Reitei-sama!" one of the masked people shouted.

"Lyon's followers?" Erza questioned. Lucy surveyed their surroundings. Each path into the woods was occupied by a group of Lyon's followers. Other than the path to the temple, they were completely surrounded.

"Ah, they've got us surrounded," Lucy spoke her observations.

"Aye."

Erza drew out a sword from her extensive sword collection. She stood in front of the followers and blocked their path.

"Go, Gray. I'll take care of them. Finish your fight with Lyon," Erza said as she faced the followers.

"Erza…" Gray muttered. Erza, who had been threatening to cut him down only minutes ago, was now helping him. It was bizarre to say the least but he was still infinitely grateful. He nodded with a determined face. This time, he would not lose against Lyon.

Lucy grinned, "Well, I guess I'll stay here with Erza-san and sweep up the mess. Gray-san, show Lyon-san what being a Fairy Tail wizard is all about!"

"Aye!" Happy shouted as he brandished his make-shift fish sword.

"You guys…" Gray slowly smiled. He was blessed to have the greatest friends in the world. Even though he had only known Lucy for a week, he felt as if she had been part of his family since forever ago. "Alright!" With that final shout, he ran inside the temple.

Lucy turned to the group of followers who blocked the East path whilst Erza faced the ones blocking the North. They stood back to back as they inspected the steadily growing number of followers.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Erza asked as she readied her sword.

"I reckon around four minutes, if even that."

"Really? I think it'll be around one minute, if even that." As soon as Erza finished her sentence, she dashed forward and raised her sword. She swung down diagonally and applied enough force to deliver a slice followed by air pressure so great that sent all of the followers flying in all directions. Lucy took a moment to simply spectate the fight. Watching the redhead during the heat of battle was something that should be made as an official hobby. Because Lucy would take up the hobby with dedication. Seeing Erza be in her element was one of the things that made Lucy's days. Watching her soar through the air with elegance yet deliver blows with an unmatched strength was very addictive. Lucy swiftly dodged the blade that came flying to her face. She sighed at the interruption and she remembered that she had her own group to take care of.

With a click of her fingers, a large silver sphere was conjured and she willed it to suck all the followers inside. Once all of them were packed inside the sphere, she walked to the sphere and touched it with one hand. Along that hand, she sent a moderate spark of electricity into the sphere. Immediately, energy cackled inside and made contact with the followers and promptly put them all to sleep. By the time she was done and turned back to Erza, the girl was already finished with her side.

Lucy approached Erza and smiled. "It looks like you won that bet, Erza-san. It really did take us around one minute. It seems that I'm no match for you."

Her smile dropped as she felt the ground rumbling. She turned to the temple and her eyes widened as she witness the temple slowly restore itself and readjust to the right position.

"What in the world…?" she muttered. How was it possible? Lucy had never seen such magic before. The ruins hadn't simply moved on its own and rebuilt itself. No, it was almost as if the temple had returned to the state it was before Natsu had destroyed half of it. But surely, such magic wasn't possible. As she was racking her brains for a type of magic related to time, purple light shot down to the temple from the sky that hung in the evening sky. Lucy blinked. Was it already evening? She hadn't noticed.

She shook her head to rid herself of pointless thoughts. "Erza-san, I will teleport inside and try and see what's going on. Please head to the top of the temple and stop the person who's doing the ceremony."

Erza nodded but before she could reply, a raspy voice interrupted, "Wait."

They turned to see an old woman being supported by a young man in his twenties. The old woman's hand trembled as she pointed at them determinedly. "I won't let you interfere with Reitei-sama's plans."

"Those head bands," Erza said. "You are the citizen of Brago, aren't you? Have a score to settle?"

Erza blinked as Lucy approached them and quickly knocked them both unconscious using her magic. Maybe it was a harsh and ruthless thing to do but they really didn't have the time to stand there and leisurely chat when the Deliora could be awakened at any moment.

"Erza-san," Lucy called out. "I will meet at the top of the temple," she said and disappeared. Erza looked at the limp body of the old woman who Lucy had taken out with no hesitance. She made a mental note to herself to be careful of Lucy's ruthless side.

000

By the time Lucy had found Natsu, he was in a fierce fight with a short, skimpy looking man wearing a furry mask. She approached Natsu who was sprawled across the floor with bruises covering his stomach and face.

"Who is this, Natsu-san?" she asked, looking at the man with suspicion.

Natsu grunted as he got to his feet. "Dunno but he somehow managed to restore the pillars I broke down!"

The man inspected Lucy with a grin. "Oiya? It seems that I am outnumbered. That's not very fair now, is it?"

Lucy stared hard at the man. She narrowed her eyes. "More importantly, why does your presence feel almost identical to the presence of that woman in the magic council? What was her name again? Ultra? Ultiara?" she ransacked her brain but came up with nothing. In her state of concentration, she missed the shocked expression that crossed the man's face for a fraction of a second. Lucy shrugged. "No matter. Who are you and what's with that magic you used earlier? I've never seen anything like it before." _Not that my magic is exactly normal, _Lucy thought to herself.

Before the man could reply, an ear-splitting noise filled the air and the ground shook violently. Lucy stared in shock as the ice surrounding the Deliora cracked and fell apart. She had hoped that Erza would get there in time to stop the ceremony but it was apparent that she had miscalculated the amount of Moon Drip that was needed to melt the ice. If the monster woke, things would turn troublesome. At her current level of magic, she wasn't sure if she would be able to defeat the monster. The Deliora continued to roar as more and more ice melted. Lucy clicked her tongue.

"Natsu-san! I'll be heading to the top. Please take care of things down here," she said and teleported to the top. When she saw Toby bowing continuously by himself, she quickly kicked him away. Just then, Erza ran into the clearing.

"Did we…put a stop to it?" Erza asked.

"It's already too late," Toby said weakly. "The ceremony has completed."

Another deafening roar pierced the air.

"Dammit!" Lucy cursed. She grabbed Erza and Happy before teleporting back to the cavern where the Deliora was. However, to her surprise, Lyon was lying on the floor looking defeated. Gray and Natsu stood in front of the Deliora with Natsu blocking Gray's path. His fist was clenched, as if he had just punched something. They were there just in time to see the Deliora slowly starting to fall apart. Lucy stared at the scene, feeling confused. What had happened?

Natsu took a step back in shock. "What the hell? That wasn't me."

Gray and Lyon watched with their eyes wide as bit by bit, the Deliora crumbled and fell to the ground.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Lyon muttered. "Deliora was already dead…" Lyon clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. "Ur's magic has sapped its strength throughout the years. All we saw was its last moment." He slammed a fist against the ground. "I can't compete with Ur! Even when she's dead, I can never surpass her!"

Lucy turned away as tears trickled down his and Gray's faces. She never was good with crying people. Instead, she watched the melted ice as it mixed with the stream and flowed into the sea.

000

"Yippeee! With that, we've finally completed our mission!" Natsu shouted in excitement.

Happy joined in with the celebration. "Aye sir!"

Lucy and Gray smiled along until they felt a sinister stare directed their way. They all froze as they were reminded of their impeding punishment. _On the bright side,_ Lucy thought, _at least we're not being kicked out of the guild._

"In any case, you still haven't finished your job. Wasn't the request to cure the village from their curse?" Erza asked.

"Yeah but now that the Deliora's dead, the curse should have lifted!" Natsu said.

Erza crossed her arms. "No, that wasn't the Deliora's influence. The tremendous magical power of the Moon Drip has caused disaster to befall the people of the village. The fall of the Deliora shouldn't have changed the situation."

Natsu shrugged. "Well, let's hurry up and cure them then."

"But how, you idiot?" Gray snapped. He turned to face Lyon, who was resting against a rock few meters behind. "Oi Lyon!"

Lyon stared back with a blank face. "Just so you know, I have no idea." At Natsu's cry of disbelief, he continued. "Three years ago when we came, we knew that there was a village on this island. But we didn't interfere with the village and they didn't come to see us even once."

"Three years…not even once?" Erza repeated. Her expression was the one of deep contemplation. Lucy could practically see the gears turning in the redhead's brain. She smiled. If there was anyone who could figure out the curse, it was Erza. Lucy thought that the girl was too smart for her own good. And too pretty. And too nice. And too strong. And too wonderful in general. Okay, now she was just getting side-tracked.

In any case, Lyon had a good point. The fact that they had been collecting Moon Drip for three years yet no one had gone to investigate during all that time was too strange. Not to mention that Lyon's group were probably the closest to the Moon Drip the whole time so it was odd that they didn't seem to be affected. Things just weren't adding up.

Lyon voiced her thoughts regarding the Moon Drip. "Be careful," he added at the end, "they're definitely hiding something." He looked to the side. "Although from now, it's your guild's business."

Natsu bristled at this. "I don't think so! You're the one who destroyed the…" he was cut off by Erza.

"That's enough. They have their own version of justice," she said, thinking back to how Toby had told her that their parents had been taken away by the Deliora. "There's no need to criticize their past actions."

Lucy fell completely still at this comment. She thought back to all the wrongs she had committed in her past. She could only hope that she would be forgiven just as Lyon had been once her full past comes to be revealed. She had no doubt that the time would come soon but she was far from ready. She shook her thoughts away. Right now, she needed to be concentrating on her mission.

"Let's go," Erza announced.

Natsu followed as he voiced his concerns. "You say that but how are we going to lift the curse?"

"Who knows," was Erza's reply. To anyone else, she looked as if she had no plans and was just going with her instinct but Lucy knew the girl well enough to recognise her tone. Erza had figured it out. It was then that Lucy was struck with an idea.

"Guys, I'm going to head back to the village ahead of you. I have something to take care of," she said to her friends. She ignored the questioning looks and waved goodbye before teleporting away.

Gray fell behind as Erza, Natsu and Happy started their walk to the village. He stared at Lyon who immediately glared back.

"What are you looking at?" Lyon demanded fiercely.

"Go and join a guild somewhere. You'll gain friends and rivals and I know you'll find a new reason to live," Gray said as he thought of his own family in Fairy Tail. Lyon looked surprised for a second but he quickly covered it up with a frown.

"Hurry up and go already!"

Gray gave him a final smile before jogging after his friends, leaving Lyon to his thoughts.

"Guild…huh?"

000

"Lucy, why didn't you bring the others with you?" Ria asked as they appeared in the village.

Lucy grinned. "Just watch," she said and pulled out a golden key. "Open, gate of the Maiden, Virgo!"

From her silver magic circle, a pink haired girl wearing a maid uniform and a pair of shackles on her wrists appeared. Compared to her appearance while she was contracted with Duke Erverlue, her build was much more petite. Lucy had created a contract with the spirit some time ago and this was her first time summoning Virgo since.

"Is it punishment time, master?" Virgo asked. Lucy had told the spirit that she was free to call her by her name but Virgo had insisted on addressing her as 'master'. Well, it was either that or princess so Lucy hadn't really had a choice.

"Oh no, not at all, although we could do that later if you finish your job properly. Right now, I need you to dig a moderately deep hole right about there," she ordered, pointing at the patch of ground in front of gate which was surprising back to the way it had been before its destruction. Virgo nodded as enthusiastically as a stoic maid could get and immediately began to dig the hole.

Ria laughed as she realized what was going through her friend's mind. "Ah, I see. You're thinking of pulling that trick again on Erza aren't you? How do you know that this Erza would fall for it too?"

Lucy shrugged. "I don't but it's worth to try."

Virgo walked back to Lucy and presented her with the hole. "May I have my punishment, master?" she quickly asked in her monotone voice. Lucy rolled her eyes and promised that she would deliver 'punishment' later. Virgo bowed. "I shall be eagerly awaiting my punishment." And with that, the spirit disappeared.

"Lucy, you've got yourself another weird spirit," Ria commented. Lucy nodded in agreement. It was an unfortunate fact that none of her spirits seemed to be normal. She was actually starting to doubt the existence of a sane, normal spirit. Before she could get too distracted, Lucy quickly disguised the hole and waited. A few minutes later, the gate opened and her friends walked in, led by Erza. Lucy waited in anticipation and the redhead obliviously headed for the obvious trap. Gray had noticed the hole as well as Lucy's expression of anticipation. He shook his head at the childish behaviour.

As she had expected, Erza fell right into the hole with a loud 'Kya!'

Gray, Natsu and Happy's jaws dropped as they stared in disbelief. To them, it was impossible to imagine the tough Erza eliciting such a girly noise. On the other hand, Ria had busted out laughing and Lucy was too busy being in her own dreamland filled with Erza's cute 'Kya's. Without a word, Erza climbed out of the hole and headed for the centre of the village as if nothing had just happened. The boys continued to stare after her, their brains still not able to comprehend what had just occurred.

Well, you learn new things every day.

000

Natsu vigorously gulped down flames after flames. After Erza had solved the mystery of the Galuna Island and had shattered the magical lens created by the Moon Drip's energy, the demons had regained their memories and had opened a celebratory feast after the return of the chief's son. Bobo had apologised for lying to them and had explained that it was the only way he could think of in order to save his village. Natsu had instantly forgiven him and that had been the end of that.

Currently, Lucy watched as three demon girls started talking to Gray and pulled him away from his spot to dance. She smirked. "Gray-san's always popular with those type of girls," she commented. She turned to Natsu and giving him a teasing grin. "What about you, Natsu-san?"

Natsu shrugged. "I'm not interested," he said and went back to his food.

Erza spoke up. "What about you, Lucy? What kind of girls are you interested in?"

Lucy started sweating at the sudden turn of conversation. She wasn't terribly good at talks like this. She had only asked Natsu as a joke since she knew his answer already but she hadn't considered that her joke would backfire so horribly. The first thing that came to mind was, _'your kind' _but she couldn't say that for obvious reasons.

She ignored Ria's snickers of amusement. "Oh, um…someone who's determined…I guess?" she trailed off awkwardly, fully knowing that her answer was extremely vague. She signalled to Natsu and Happy to keep their mouths shut.

Suddenly, a hush fell over the village as the demons fell silent. Lucy turned to look at the cause and found Sherry and Yuka standing in front of them. This immediately caught her attention. Erza made a move to stand but she was stopped by Lucy who gestured for her to stay seated.

"Don't worry Erza-san, I don't sense any hostile intentions from their presence. I don't think they're here to fight." Then addressing the two, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"We came to pay you back," Sherry answered. "We'll end this once and for all."

Natsu rose from his seat but Lucy stopped him with a look.

"So?" she prompted, "When are you guys going to apologize?" At their surprised looks, she smiled. "That's what you came here to do right?"

There was a pause until Yuka spoke up. "You're right. I know that this doesn't atone for our sins but we at least wanted to finish things properly."

"We heard from Reitei-sama. It's thanks to you that we were freed from our hatred for Deliora," Sherry said.

"So you guys were too…" Gray said.

"Yes. Our village was destroyed by Deliora so we decided to follow Reitei-sama who was going to destroy Deliora. But that is no excuse to hurt innocent people in the process. We were so blinded by our hatred that we became no better than the Deliora itself."

There was a solemn silence until Natsu jumped in and cheerfully clapped them on their shoulders.

"You guys should join the feast!" he exclaimed with a grin.

"We were your enemies just moments ago!" Yuka said in surprise.

Lucy smiled at Sherry. "Well, since I killed Angelica, you can count this as getting even and we can start from the beginning. You should join us and have fun."

Sherry hesitantly smiled back. Lucy took this as a positive sign. Natsu wasted no time in dragging the two into the party and sat them down in front of a huge table with lots of food.

"Let's party!"

000

Perching on a tree branch looking over the village was the short man by the name of Zarti. He grinned wickedly as he took off his mask and morphed into a young woman with long black hair and dark eyes. Her name was Ultear Milkovich, a member of the magic council. The man- turned-woman watched the jolly scene below her with a smirk. When her eyes caught the form of Lucy, she paused. Although the fire user boy had brief suspicions of her true gender due to his superhuman senses, the girl had been more interesting. Ultear wasn't sure how the girl had correctly identified her by taking one look at her but she was intrigued.

Lucy…Natsu…Gray…Erza…she would keep an eye on those four.

000

"We're back!" Natsu cheered as they entered Magnolia.

"Aye!" Happy yelled. Ria joined in as she flew around restlessly. Lucy smiled at the sight. In truth, she too was happy to be back home after the Deliora incident. She just didn't show it as much as Natsu.

"But damn…after all that hard work, we just got one key," Gray complained. Lucy had been the only one who got a reward out of the mission. Although they hadn't accepted the money prize, Erza had asked for the key instead when the chief had insisted on rewarding them. The key was a gold one, the gate to Sagittarius, at that.

"It wasn't a proper job," Erza reminded him. "This much is about right."

"Right Gray-san. No complaining," Lucy said with a small smirk. "You got to meet your long lost brother. Wasn't that a reward in itself?"

"Shut up," Gray grumbled. "And who the hell decided that Lyon's my brother?!"

"Easy going aren't you? Are you forgetting that you have punishment when you get back?" Erza said, causing everyone to immediately freeze. "Well, I think you should be forgiven for what happened this time but master will be the judge of that. I have no intentions on defending you."

"We're not going to do _that _are we?" Happy asked fearfully.

"We most likely are going to do _that_," Lucy said grimly. Hearing her confirm this fact, Gray went completely pale and Natsu sweated enough to fill a bucket.

"Noooo!" he wailed, "Anything but _that_!"

Erza silently smirked as she dragged away the two boys by their collars. Lucy smiled at the scene fondly and tilted her head up to see the sky. She immediately regretted her action as the sunlight hit her eyes harshly and caused them to burn.

_Ugh, I seriously hate sunny days. _


	7. Accidents can happen (once or twice)

**This chapter is based on anime ep 19. Enjoy!**

* * *

It was the second day after the Galuna Island incident. Team Natsu, sans Erza, had completed their punishments and although Makarov had been merciful and had not dished out _the _punishment, they had been forced to clean the guild building's every nook and cranny which in Lucy's opinion, was one of the worst punishments that could have been given to her. The blonde mage shuddered at the very thought of mops and buckets of soapy water. Never again. But other than that, all was peaceful in Fairy Tail once again. Or as peaceful as the rowdy guild could ever get.

In the background, Natsu and Gray's usual 'banter' could be heard and nobody even acknowledged the chairs and tables that were flying around, causing a safety hazard. Cana sat in her usual place by the bar drinking an excessive amount of alcohol from a barrel, Wakaba and Macao were once again lamenting about the current generation of mages and Elfman was predictably spouting nonsense about being manly which Lucy never really bothered listening to.

As for Lucy, she was pleased to find herself in a casual conversation with Fairy Tail's resident requip mage. The said mage was, for once, not consuming a cake of any kind which had caused Lucy to be initially cautious in approaching Erza. But all had been fine once she had spotted a plate of soufflé not too far away. Ria had tactfully left them on their own which Lucy was really grateful for.

"So Erza-san," Lucy started casually. "Are you thinking of taking on a job today?"

Erza thought for a second before shaking her head. "No, I think I will spend today rearranging my room and doing some spring cleaning. I've recently noticed that my armours are gathering some dust."

Lucy put on an enthusiastic grin. "What a coincidence! I was also thinking of cleaning my room today." At this point, she was lying right through her teeth. She had no such thoughts prior to the conversation but, she reasoned with her brain, her bookshelves were actually becoming quite messy now that she thought about it. Plus it wouldn't hurt her desk if she gave it a little wipe now and then. In fact, she realised that her room really did need some cleaning, in all seriousness. All the horror she had felt previously regarding cleaning were thrown out of the window.

"Is that so? If that's the case, perhaps we could clean our rooms together. I'm sure that two pairs of hands are much more efficient when it comes to cleaning," Erza said with a smile.

"Not to mention that I suck at cleaning and being neat. I would be grateful if you could help me with a few things," Lucy added sheepishly. At least she wasn't lying about being bad at cleaning. As a child, there had been countless of maids who filled such jobs and she hadn't really felt the need to clean during the time she was living alone. Occasionally, Lisanna or Wendy would get sick of seeing books and papers littering her bedroom floor and would clean up for her. But neither of them was there with her anymore so Lucy would have to start taking care of herself.

"I don't mind. Then shall we start heading towards Fairy Hills now? It would be best if we started cleaning early," Erza said as she stood up. Lucy followed and carefully hid her shit-eating grin. She would be alone with Erza for the whole day! Although they would just be cleaning and tidying up, it didn't change the fact that they were going to be alone. For the whole day. Lucy was feeling rather pleased with life in that moment.

"Look what I found!"

The moment did not last very long. Lucy looked at Erza and saw that it was already too late. Her attention had been caught. Lucy scowled in displeasure and with deep breaths, she very slowly turned to face Natsu who was waving around a request sheet.

"Look! It's a really strange looking request," Natsu said as he examined the paper. A small crowd formed around the boy, each trying to read what was written on it. Lucy sighed in defeat when she saw Erza walking towards the crowd. There goes her plan for the day. Lucy knew that at this point, she might as well see what was causing all the fuss.

It was a strange looking paper with READ THIS written in cursive font at the top. Beneath this instruction were a bunch of ancient words that made no sense and at the bottom was the written reward of five hundred thousand jewels. And just for reading a passage. If this didn't scream suspicious, Lucy honestly couldn't fathom what did.

"Guys, we're not actually going to read this right? No matter how you look at it, it screams suspicious," Ria said, fluttering around the rapidly dispersing crowd. It seemed that everyone had lost their interests. Well everyone except the members of Team Natsu with Lucy included. Despite her sceptic nature, she was also a curious person at the core and this strange request definitely peaked her interest. She hoped that it was at least worth sacrificing a day alone with Erza for.

Undeterred by Ria's comment, Natsu proceeded to read the instructions. He squinted at the paper. "Please decipher the meaning behind these words. If you figure it out, 500,000 jewels will belong to you." He directed his excited grin at Happy. "Hear that? If we do this, we'll be able to have a really nice dinner tonight!"

"Aye! I want lots of fish!" Happy said, equally as excited.

"Wait, aren't these ancient letters?" Gray pointed out, examining the writing inside the upturned triangle. "Who the hell can read this?!"

"But there's a translation into modern characters next to it," Happy said.

"Oh! Then I can read that!" Natsu exclaimed, once again getting riled up. "Let's see…_Uugo deru rasuchi borokamia…_" One could practically see Natsu's eyes swirling around in confusion. "Damn! I don't understand this at all!"

Erza peered over his shoulder and read over the words. She too, had no idea what the text was saying. "Perhaps this is a job more suited for Levy," she suggested. No sooner than she had finished uttering those words, the paper started emitting a strange glow that surrounded the six of them.

From the sidelines, Cana watched with wary eyes. "Something is about to happen, I can feel it." She took another gulp of her alcohol. "Dammit, why can't this guild be quiet for one second?!" she grumbled to herself.

Romeo was far cry from being upset. "Wow, magic is sooo awesome," he said with an awestruck face as he watched the glow fade into nothingness.

Lucy blinked. For some reason, her chest felt very bare and she was wearing a…scarf? She looked down at her body and nearly choked when she saw a pair of familiar loose black trousers and an unmistakably flat chest that was out in the open. Her eyes widened with realisation and it was then that she noticed the consistent heat coursing through her entire body.

"What the hell's going on?" she muttered to herself. She turned to Ria who was at the very moment, plummeting towards the ground at a rapid rate. Lucy quickly shot forward and caught the falling girl. "Ria, what's wrong?" she asked in concern. It was only slightly disturbing to hear her own voice come out as Natsu's.

"The hell's happening?!" Ria shouted, frantically patting herself all over her body. She glared up at Lucy. "What the hell did you do, you flame-brain?!"

Lucy carefully and very slowly dropped the girl to the ground and stared at her in disbelief. "…Gray-san?" she asked hesitantly. This stopped Ria's angry rant and the small girl stared up at Lucy with scrutinizing eyes.

"Is that…Lucy?" Ria, no, Gray asked. Lucy nodded mutely. She had a feeling she knew what was going on.

On the other side of the table, Gray's voice exclaimed, "Whoa! Why is the table so big and why am I so cold?"

"WHOA! I feel so strong and really awake," Lucy's voice shouted enthusiastically. "Ow! But my eyes hurt for some reason?!"

Happy stepped forward with his hands stuck to his sides. His face sported a stern frown. "What in the world is all this fuss about?!" he said, his voice firm and commanding. Lucy blinked. _So that must be Erza-san. _When her brain finally caught up with what she was seeing, she nearly blanched. Since Erza was in Happy's body, Lucy was technically crushing on Happy. That was a very, _very_ disturbing thought. Lucy made a promise to herself that she would not think of such thoughts ever again.

While this was happening, Erza walked up to Lucy with a childish smile. "Look Natsu! I've got two huge boobs stuck to my chest!" Erza, no, Happy pushed up the said boobs and smiled at Lucy.

Lucy firmly squeezed her eyes shut. _This is not happening._ She chanted her mantra inside her head again and again. _This is just Happy in Erza-san's body._ She quickly reminded herself of this fact and also once again reminded herself that it would be wrong on _so many levels _if she were to…lust after _Happy._ Ew, no. Just…no. Just the thought sent goose bumps all over her body. In a bad way. A very, very bad way.

Erza watched Happy groping his…her chest with a horrified expression. "Stop that!" she shouted, jumping into the air and kicking Happy. She only realised that she was technically kicking herself when she felt the jolt of pain shooting her small furry leg when it came into contact with hard metal armour. Erza stared at her paws in shock. "What is with this cat form! I don't remember requipping into this!

Meanwhile, the rest of the guild watched their friends with no little amount of confusion. 'Lucy' was prancing around the room cackling and lifting heavy tables with one hand, 'Gray' was seemingly tripping over thin air every five steps, 'Ria' was subconsciously starting to take off her T-shirt only to realise what she was doing and freezing in place. 'Natsu' was quiet for once and was calling everyone's name with –san at the end, 'Happy' was in an intimidating stance with a cross expression marring his face and finally, 'Erza' was walking around with a childish glee and showing everyone her breasts. To say that everyone was acting out of character would have been a huge understatement.

They watched with dropped jaws as the chaos ensued. This would be a day to remember, that was for sure.

"What the hell's going on!" Gray shouted and despaired at how small and feminine sounding it came out.

"Ahhh! Everything's so big! And I can't fly!" Ria shouted as she ran around the guild and tripping everywhere, her brain not adjusted to having such a big body.

"Do you still not realise it yet?!" Erza said as she commanded everyone's attention as best as she could while she was in a cat's body. "Our minds and bodies have switched places!"

There was a deafening silent. Until a collective shout of disbelief filled the air.

Natsu rushed over to Erza. "What do you mean, Happy?!"

"I'm Erza!" the requip mage angrily corrected.

Lucy cleared her throat to gather everyone's attention. She sighed, trying to ignore how wrong it sounded. She looked around at everyone. "Erza-san is correct. I had realised this earlier on but I was in a state of…shock, shall we say. Regardless, according to my observations, it seemed that the six of us was split into three pairs and each pair swapped minds with each other. Natsu-san and me, Gray-san and Ria…" she hesitated slightly before announcing the last pair with some difficulty. "And finally, Erza-san and Happy-san."

Chaos once again descended over Fairy Tail. It was during this that the unmistakable voice of Master Markorov was heard from the entrance.

"The magical words of Umpera," he announced, causing everyone to fall silent and direct their gaze at the old man. "You have activated Changeling."

Lucy had never before felt so relieved to see the Master as in that moment. She felt like she was gazing upon her guardian angel that was there to finally make her nightmares go away. Or in other words, turn them all back to normal.

"By reading the spell, you have activated Changeling and have caused the people in the vicinity to swap minds," Makarov explained calmly. "And not only have you swapped minds, your powers have swapped as well."

Everyone gasped at this new revelation. Everyone except for Lucy who merely narrowed her eyes. That wasn't good news. Not at all. If Natsu were to stay in her body with her powers for a long period of time, Lucy was sure that consequences would follow and by no means were they good ones.

"One last thing!" Makarov called out. "If you don't undo Changeling within thirty minutes after its activation, you won't ever be able to go back to normal. Or so the legend goes…" he finished with a mysterious smile.

Oookay. Things were getting serious now. Natsu panicked and dashed to Mirajane who was watching the spectacle with a somewhat amused expression.

"How long has it been so far?!" he asked urgently. Nobody dared to mention how weird it was to see 'Lucy' being in such a state of panic.

"16 minutes so far," Mirajane answered. "You have 14 minutes left."

Lucy inwardly groaned. That wasn't a lot of time at all. She refused to think about the 'what ifs' if they were to be stuck in their current bodies.

"Master! Isn't there a spell to change us back?!" Natsu asked desperately. He probably didn't want to be stuck in a girl's body for the rest of his life.

Makarov stroked his moustache. "Hm…there is but it's a very old magic. And when it comes to something that old…I have no idea!" Lucy knew that he was doing this on purpose, to see them squirm and despair. The old man was devious, she would give him that. Makarov grinned as he started walking away. "Well, in any case, I wish you luck." And with that, he disappeared, leaving everyone at a loss for what to do.

"Natsu-san," Lucy said looking at herself. "Could you perhaps teleport around town and see if Levy-san is returning back from her job? I think her assistance would be needed."

Natsu nodded until he realised that he didn't know how he was supposed to do that. Lucy nearly slapped her forehead. Of course. How could she forget? Even if Natsu had access to her powers, that didn't mean he knew how to utilise them. This was most likely the case with everyone else who had swapped.

From this exchange, Happy received an idea. "Oh I know! I'll trying requipping!" he exclaimed as he focused on the magic inside him and pictured a cool armour to put on.

Erza frantically jumped up and down in an attempt to stop him but her efforts were fruitless as in her current state, she was considerably weaker and shorter than Happy.

Everyone watched with baited breath as Happy performed Erza's trademark requip magic. When the glow disappeared, 'Erza' was standing curiously inspecting her new outfit which was a strange mixture of a traditional school swimsuit and beachwear. Lucy was pretty sure that the real Erza inside Happy was on the brink of fainting then and there.

"Ooh! Now it's my turn!" Ria said as she stepped up. She imitated Gray's pose when he casted spells and shouted "Ice make floor!" but instead of the floor being coated with ice, bits of icicles flew in all directions. Thankfully, everyone was able to dodge them and no one was hurt. Lucy advised Ria that maybe trying to use Gray's magic wasn't such a good idea. At the side, Gray grumbled something about him not being able to travel anywhere at a decent pace without being carried around.

"Lucy! Try using Natsu's magic!" Happy urged.

Lucy shook her head. "Unless you don't mind the building burning down in five minutes flat, I don't think that's such a great idea."

"Lucy's right," Happy's voice called out. Everyone glanced up to see Erza using Happy's magic and flying around everywhere. Anyone with half decent eyes could see that Erza was clearly enjoying herself.

"Can I also point out the fact that at this rate, we won't even be able complete our jobs properly. We'll be all over the place," Lucy pointed out. This stopped everyone in their tracks.

Mass panic ensued.

"Damn! You're right!"

"Ice make-"

"Ria, stop!"

"Requip-"

"Don't even think about it!"

"Ria! How the hell do you fly around without wings?! Damn this is so hard!"

"Why isn't the silvery stuff coming out from my hands?! How do I get the keys out? How do I teleport? But wow, I feel so much stronger. And why's my eyes still stinging?!"

"Nooo! I don't have wings anymore!"

"How am I to fight without my weapons and armours?!"

And so, it was another normal day in Fairy Tail.


	8. Trigger cause

**Finally the Phantom Arc! As you know, Lucy's dad is dead in this story so I've taken some liberties with the reasons why Phantom is targeting Lucy.**

* * *

"_Erza-san! Please wait!" a thirteen year old Lucy called out, chasing after a red haired woman who looked to be in her twenties. _

_Erza clicked her tongue in annoyance. "I said no! How many times do I have to say it until it gets through your thick head?!" She quickened her pace considerably. Lucy was not deterred as she persistently followed the redhead, barely keeping up with the intense speed. _

"_I won't give up until you agree!" Lucy replied. Erza suddenly stopped and swivelled around. Lucy was just about able to stop in time to prevent herself from crashing into the redhead. _

_Erza scowled, the expression twisting up her features. "Look brat, I don't know why you have such an obsession with becoming stronger but whatever the reason is, you've come to the wrong person. Don't let me repeat myself: I'm. Not. Going. To. Train. You." _

_Lucy shook her head stubbornly. "No way. I don't know what's going on, where I am and what the hell you did to me but I feel a lot stronger physically. I feel as if I can lift three grown men at a time and I was able to keep up with your ridiculous speed walk without even running out of breath. Whatever this is, I don't care. I want to…no I _need _to get stronger," she almost whispered that last part. _

_Erza regarded Lucy with a mild look of surprise. She then stared into Lucy's eyes and in there she saw determination and a raw desire for power to protect. Lucy stared back unflinchingly and steeled her gaze to show just how serious she was. _

_After a long pause, Erza heaved a big sigh and ran a hand through her messy red hair. "You know what, kid? Fine. You've been persistently following me around for two weeks and frankly, I'm getting fucking sick of it. So fine, I'll train you BUT only in two conditions: one, you don't bitch or moan a single breath about my training no matter how much you feel like you're dying. And two, if you do bitch or moan even once, I'm kicking you out and you're to never come to me ever again. You got that?" _

_Lucy's eyes immediately lit up. Without a moment of hesitation, she nodded enthusiastically with a determined smile. "Yes sir!" she shouted with a salute and a wide grin. _

_Erza narrowed her eyes at the blonde. "You're a cheeky little shit, aren't you? I'll soon beat that out of you. Oh and I'm not a fucking dude so don't call me that."_

"_Then what should I call you?" Lucy asked. _

_Erza curled her lips into what could be identified as a hint of a smile. "I guess 'Shishou' wouldn't be a bad start."_

"_Okay, Shishou. When do we start training?" _

_The redhead raised her brows. "Wow, kid, calm your horses. I'm already regretting accepting you as my student." When she saw Lucy slumping in disappointment, she sighed. "Come on, brat. Follow me to my place and we can start your training as soon as I'm ready."_

_With that, Erza turned around and started to walk away. Lucy stood in her place staring after her. This Erza looked almost identical to her Erza in Earth, except she was a bit older and had messy hair. Despite their same appearance, their personalities seemed to be night and day. Her eyes saddened as she thought about the redheaded wizard. However before she could think about it any further, she was snapped out of her thoughts by Erza's voice. _

"_You better hurry and keep up or I'm gonna leave you behind!" _

_Lucy shook her head to get rid of her depressing thoughts. Now wasn't the time to lament her mistakes. She needed to get stronger and more powerful. She would find Erza again one day but for now, she needed to become much, much stronger if she wanted to protect her family as well as the one she loved the most. _

"_Coming, Shishou!" she yelled as she ran to catch up with her new teacher. _

000

Lucy woke up with sweat running down her forehead. She looked around and found that she was still sitting in her chair as she had been an hour ago when she had fallen asleep. She ran a hand through her hair with a sigh and wiped away the sheen of sweat on her forehead. She thought back to her dream. Why the hell was she having the dream now, of all times? She was convinced that she had long since stopped dreaming but now it came back to haunt her like a plague.

The memory was still vivid in her mind, as if it had occurred only the day before. The dream itself was far from unpleasant but something about the timing felt off. Her gut instincts told her that this was a sign of something to come. Something not necessarily good. Maybe she was just being paranoid. She truly hoped that was the case.

Lucy got up and stretched, making sure that her body was loose and well warmed up. She then proceeded to complete her usual sets of warm ups that she did every morning and evening and any other times that she was free. First, she did five hundred push ups with her right hand only, five hundred with her left hand only and finally, a thousand push ups with both hands. Next she completed a thousand sit ups, making sure to twist her body to both sides every twenty times. Then she did five hundred star jumps and five hundred burpees. Finally, she went through some light kicking and punching exercises to keep her arms and legs working.

Once she was done, Lucy gently placed a sleeping Ria in her pocket and made her way to the guild.

"Good morning Erza-san, Mirajane-san," Lucy greeted as she walked up to the two wizards who were sitting by the counter and chatting lightly. Ria, who had woken up during their quick journey between Fairy Hills and the guild, added in her own enthusiastic 'Hi!'

"Good morning Lucy! Hello Ria! You two are later than usual today," Mirajane said as she carried out her duties of wiping the glass. At her comment, Lucy realized that she was indeed at least an hour later than she normally was. She must have been caught up with her thinking.

"Good morning Lucy. You look energetic," Erza commented as she took a bite from her strawberry cake.

Lucy grinned broadly at the redhead. "I _feel _energetic. In fact, I feel like knocking down a building or two."

Mirajane laughed nervously. "I don't mind as long as it's not this building."

Lucy merely smiled as she took a seat next to Erza. She watched the requip wizard from the corner of her eyes and allowed her mind to drift back to her dream. She almost laughed out loud at how completely opposite the two Erzas were. Her Shishou had been a woman with a sharp tongue, never hesitating to express her distaste or lash out with criticisms. She had been a generally unmotivated person who hated socialising and being friendly to people she didn't know. Her Shishou had never bothered herself with the problems of others and she had been an extremely private person. In contrast to this, the Erza she knew in Earthland and Earth were also blunt but in an honest way. They were kind to others and were very determined to do everything to the best of their abilities.

She respected her Shishou almost more than anyone but in the end, the only one she would ever be in love with was the Erza who was kind, strong and looked out for her family.

"Lucy!"

The blonde wizard blinked as she was snapped out of her thoughts. She looked at Mirajane apologetically. "I'm sorry Mirajane-san. What did you say?"

"I asked whether you were going on a job today or not," Mirajane said, giving Lucy an understanding smile.

Lucy scratched her head, trying to work out what the meaning behind the smile was. "I'm not too sure. I think I will. What do you say, Erza-san?" she asked, turning towards Erza.

"I don't see why not," Erza said as she finished off her plate of cake for once in peace. "I don't have anything planned for today."

Just then, Natsu jogged over to them from his table along with Happy. "Oi! Did I hear something about a mission?" he asked as he settled into the seat next to Lucy.

Lucy sighed at his lack of tact. Trust him to ruin her chances of going on a mission with Erza alone for the first time in a while. Despite her mild annoyance, she nonetheless replied, "We were thinking of going on a mission. Would you like to come, Natsu-san?"

Natsu grinned widely. "Sure! I was getting really bored anyway. Isn't that right, Happy?"

"Aye! Natsu couldn't keep still ever since he woke up," Happy said.

Ria replied, "That's just how he usually is."

Erza got up from her seat and started walking towards the request board. "In that case, we should call Gray as well. That will be the four of us again," Erza said. She called Gray over to them and explained the situation. Gray immediately agreed since he too had been feeling restless for a while. They stood in a group and examined the board. In the end after weighing up pros and cons of all sorts of jobs, they decided on a simple one where the client had requested four substitute waiters or waitresses for a family restaurant.

"What, no! I wanna beat some people up," Natsu complained.

"Natsu, this is the only job that's not far away. It's just outside Magnolia and the reward is decent. Stop complaining," Erza said. Lucy nodded in agreement although she was also slightly disappointed that no one was going to be beaten up. It was obvious that Gray also harboured similar sentiments but they all remained silent in fear of Erza.

"Alright, Lucy! Teleport us there!" Natsu said. He was obviously trying to avoid the inevitable train ride there. Lucy frowned, feeling conflicted. On one hand, she felt bad for Natsu and wanted to help but on the other hand, she wanted to have a long journey with Erza and talk to her.

In the end, it was the redhead who made the decision for her. "Let Lucy rest. We can't always have her teleport us to places and since this isn't an emergency, there is no need to rush. We're going to the train station. Come on," Erza said as she brought out her ridiculously excessive amount of luggage. Natsu nodded silently but his face paled. Lucy could see Gray smirking from the corner of her eyes. She felt bad for Natsu but since it was decided already, she wasn't going to waste her chance.

Throughout the entire journey to the client's restaurant, Lucy chatted with Erza. She was surprised to find that she was learning new things about the girl despite technically having known her for at least seven years. But then again, Lucy reminded herself that Erza Scarlet from Earthland was not the same person as the Erza Scarlet from Earth. At first, they had seemed exactly the same but after spending more time with the Earthland's Erza, she found that they were each their own person and the differences between two started becoming clearer and clearer. It was to the point where Lucy had stopped thinking they were the same person and had clearly separated the two from each other in her mind.

"Did you meet any other versions of me during your travel?" Erza asked during one of their conversations.

Lucy smiled as she thought back to the different Erzas she had encountered while she was hopping from one dimension to another. She remembered how each had their own personalities and interests. It had been an interesting experience for Lucy, to say the least. However, as she answered, her mind focused on one in particular.

"I've met many different Erza-sans actually. The one I spent the longest time with was called Erza Arkot. I trained under her guidance for a year before leaving the world," Lucy said as she thought back to the dream she had early in the morning.

"How was she like?" Erza asked curiously.

Lucy quirked her lips into a small smile. "She was kind of the opposite of you. She always swore and called me 'kid' of 'brat'. She was harsh and unsympathetic but I believed that she had her caring side. Although she was intimidating at first glance, if you got to know her, she really was just an awkward person who didn't know how to be friendly. I think I got my awkward side from her..." Lucy drifted off as she reminisced about the past. Well, to be fair, she had always been an awkward and unsociable kid from the start but spending time with her Shishou had only made it worse.

Erza gave her a look of interest. "You seem quite fond of her. What made you leave?" At this, Lucy fell silent.

The requip wizard noticed the change in mood immediately. She smiled at Lucy kindly and said, "You don't have to answer that question if is painful for you but you can confide in me anytime you're ready to tell. Everyone in Fairy Tail regards you as part of their family so you can always be sure that we'll support you no matter what."

Lucy gulped as an intense feeling of warmth flooded her heart and she looked away to hide her blush. How long had it been since she had seen that familiar smile and the gentle reassuring tone directed at her? Far too long.

Once she had her blush under control, she turned back to face Erza with a soft smile of her own. "Thank you Erza-san. You have no idea how much that means to me."

Finally, the nagging feeling of dread that had weighed heavily on her since her dream lifted itself off her shoulders. She allowed herself to be caught up in the fight between Natsu and Gray and watched with a smile as Ria and Happy conversed about the pros and cons of fish and dairy products.

000

"Looks like we destroyed a building yet again," Ria commented as they walked along the streets of Magnolia the next morning.

"Yeah, thanks to Natsu," Gray sneered.

Natsu sneered back. "Don't talk as if you've done nothing wrong, droopy eyes!"

"I'm not the one who broke nearly all the plates and set the restaurant on fire, squinty eyes!"

"That's just how Natsu is," Happy said.

Erza pulled the two boys apart. "Stop this! It was my fault for not keeping an eye on Natsu and therefore endangering everyone's lives! Someone please hit me!"

No one actually made a move to do so as they weren't sure how she would react if someone did indeed hit her. Lucy sighed as she though back to the job. Needless to say, it had gone disastrously, which was why they had been kicked out only after two hours. They had started out fine - taking orders, delivering the dishes and giving out the bills. That was until a little girl along with her parents had walked in, asking for Natsu to show her something 'cool'. Natsu, being the kind of person he was, accepted immediately and started a small fire display which was fine until Gray came along and made it a competition to see who could entertain the girl more.

In the next twenty minutes while Erza and Lucy was doing their jobs, Natsu and Gray ignored all their duties and proceeded to completely trash the restaurant with fire and ice. Erza, who had been taking the brunt of their attacks, finally snapped and joined the fray with swords in each hand and Lucy had quietly watched the disaster unfold at the side-line. The only bad thing she had done was beating a guy up for leering at Erza but he had deserved every bit of it. However, the manager would hear none of it and had kicked all four of them out along with a repair bill. They had then spent the rest of their day exploring the town and stayed the night at an inn.

"At least we weren't bored," Lucy said dryly.

"Master's going to faint when he finds out the amount he has to pay in order to repair the restaurant," Ria added.

"And we might even have to do _that _this time," Happy shuddered. Everyone fell silent at this.

It was during this silence that they heard the hushed whisperings of the people passing by.

"_It's Fairy Tail's wizards…"_

"_I guess they don't know yet."_

"_Poor things…" _

"We're drawing an unusual amount of attention," Gray said. Lucy narrowed her eyes when she heard some of the comments. She had no doubt that Natsu had also heard since he had a very good hearing. Sure enough, he was frowning in concern. What had happened to Fairy Tail while they were away?

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Happy said.

Erza studied the people who were looking at them with a gaze of pity. "Frightened?" Erza guessed. She stopped short when she caught sight of the silhouette of their guild building. Long cylindrical poles were sticking out of the building and it gave off an ominous atmosphere.

Lucy wasted no time in teleporting to the guild, her ears deaf to the calls of her teammates. She regarded the battered building with murderous anger. "What the _fuck _is going on here?!" Lucy snarled as her mind immediately created the worst case scenarios. Her eyes momentarily flashed silver as rage took over her senses and flashes of broken Fairy Tail members appeared before her mind's eye. If any of her family was hurt, she was going to find the culprit and slowly torture them to death and bring them back to life to do it all over again. She was just about to rush into the building when a familiar voice stopped her.

"Phantom…" She slowly turned to find Mirajane standing behind her with trembling hands. Seeing her friend safe and void of harm, Lucy felt a fraction of her rage fading away. She took a deep breath to control her emotions and her eyes turned back to her usual brown.

Just then, Natsu, Gray and Erza came running towards the guild with Happy and Ria flying beside them. Ria flew straight towards Lucy and gave her a worried look. Lucy attempted to reassure her friend with a stiff nod. Everyone's eyes widened in shock as they took in the state of their guild.

"Our guild has been…" Natsu started with his shoulder shaking in rage. "Our guild has been…!"

"What's going on?" Erza asked Mirajane, being the calmest out the four, along with Gray.

"It's Phatom," Mirajane repeated in a small voice. "I hate to say this but they got us."

"Is anyone hurt?" Lucy asked in a low voice. Everyone could tell that her anger was barely contained. No one other than Ria had seen the wizard so angry before and if the situation wasn't so serious, they would have teased her for being so similar to Natsu in that aspect.

Mirajane shook her head. "No, thankfully, they attacked in the middle of the night so no one was hurt." Lucy calmed down considerably at this. She was still angry but now that everyone's safety was confirmed, the emotion clouding her rational thought finally cleared.

They all followed Mirajane in silence. As they entered the building, Lucy had to clench her fists to restrain herself from marching to Phantom and punching someone hard in the face. The inside of the guild was in a horrible state with tables and chairs lying around in splinters and large metal poles everywhere. The request board was in a similar state to the chairs and she couldn't even recognise the bar anymore. All their precious memories trashed, just in a matter of seconds. They would pay Phantom back but not in that very moment. See had to see with her own eyes that no one was harmed. They were led into Fairy Tail's first basement floor where Lucy was relieved to see everyone sitting in makes-shift tables and drinking in silence. Although the mood was sombre and the usual rowdy chatter was absent, Lucy was happy that no one seemed to be physically harmed.

"Yo! Welcome back!" Makarov greeted them as they approached. His face was flushed with the amount of beer he was drinking and he sported a goofy grin.

"We have returned," Erza replied calmly.

Lucy gritted her teeth. "Master! Why are you not retaliating against this direct attack to our guild?"

Natsu stepped forward. "Yeah! Lucy's right. What are you just sitting around here for, gramps?!"

Makarov ignored the two and instead addressed Gray. "So? How was the job?"

Gray clenched his jaw and remained silent. They had planned to break the news of their disastrous job as soon as they came back but seeing how serious the situation was, he didn't feel like telling the Master about their job.

In Gray's silence, Erza added, "Master! Don't you understand the situation we are in?"

Makarov chuckled. "Now, now. Calm down. It's not something to get so riled up about." He took a gulp of his beer. "Phantom? Ha! They're nothing but a bunch of half-wits. There's no need for us to bother with them."

Natsu smashed his fist into a nearby wall. "That ain't right! I'm not going to be satisfied until I crush these guys!" Lucy silently agreed with him and she nodded to show her support.

"Master, I agree with Natsu-san. If we don't teach them a lesson now, there is no guarantee that no one is going to be hurt later on," Lucy said firmly.

Master lowered his mug. "This discussion is over," he stated sternly. "We'll take job offers here until the upstairs is repaired." With that, he jumped off from the box he was sitting on and ran off.

Natsu slowly unclenched his fists. "How are you okay with this, gramps?" he asked in a low voice.

Mirajane sent him a look of understanding. "Natsu, this is just as hard for Master, you know. But outright conflicts between guilds are forbidden by the council."

"But they're the one who attacked first!" Natsu yelled in protest.

"That's not the problem here…"

Erza sighed. "If that's how the Master feels, there is nothing we can do."

Lucy slumped as she realised the truth in Erza's words. As much as she wanted revenge against Phantom Lord, she didn't want to get Fairy Tail into trouble with the council yet again.

000

The first thing she saw when she entered her room was Natsu, Gray, Erza and Happy lounging around drinking tea and eating snacks.

"We just never get some privacy," Ria muttered.

"I thought boys weren't allowed in the girls' dormitory," Lucy said to Erza. She decided not to mention that time Natsu had climbed through her window.

Erza sipped her tea. "The incident with Phantom means that they've come to town which means they've probably looked up where we live."

"So that's why Mira-chan said it would be safer to stay in groups," Gray finished.

Erza nodded. "And that's why I'm allowing Natsu and Gray to stay in your room for the time being. I joined since even I wouldn't have been comfortable staying alone." Lucy nodded as she settled into the chair opposite Erza.

"I guess that makes sense. If I was left alone and a member of Phantom had attacked, I wouldn't have been able to restrain myself from breaking a few limbs and possibly accidentally killing them."

"I don't think that's what Mira had in mind when she told you to stay in groups," Happy said with a sweatdrop.

Ria shrugged. "But it's a good thing. Lucy can really hurt someone when she puts her mind to it. Thank goodness she doesn't a lot of the time."

"In any case," Erza said as she pointedly stared at the rest. "You all smell like sweat. We're sleeping in the same room so at least take a bath."

"No way, can't be bothered," Natsu said, his mouth stuffed with cookies.

"But I'm sleepy…" Gray complained from Lucy's bed. It was a good thing Lucy hardly ever slept in her bed. She didn't think sleeping in Gray's sweat would be a great experience.

"I suppose it can't be helped. Shall we take a bath together like the old times?" Erza teased as she grabbed a slightly blushing Natsu and Gray. Lucy's head immediately shot up at this.

"I want to join!" she shouted eagerly.

Natsu and Gray gave her a weird look as they broke free from Erza's grasp. "Nobody's having a shower together!" Gray said as he settled into Lucy's bed once more and closed his eyes, attempting to sleep. Erza grabbed a towel and headed for the bathroom.

"I'll take a bath first," Erza announced as she closed the bathroom door behind her. As she heard the water running, Lucy started her usual excise routine. She was just about to start another round of thousand push ups when Erza walked out wrapped in a towel. Lucy's arms almost gave out underneath her as she stared. She quickly looked away with a blush and attempted to continue her exercise casually. Ria laughed out loud when she saw but quickly clamped her mouth shut when Erza gave her a curious look.

"Ah…that was a nice bath," Erza sighed in contentment.

Lucy cleared her throat. "Um, Erza-san…aren't you going to put on some clothes?" she asked awkwardly.

Erza looked down at the towel that barely covered the essential parts of her body. "Oh sorry." She quickly requipped into a pair of purple Heart Kreuz brand pyjamas. They stayed in silence as Lucy finished off her sit ups. Natsu sat in the corner of the room with a brooding face and Gray lay still in Lucy's bed, most likely asleep. Happy was munching on a fish and Ria was nibbling on a slice of cheese.

"I wonder why Phantom suddenly attacked," Lucy suddenly spoke. This particular question had been bugging her ever since she had found out about the attack. Once she was able to think clearly without feeling rage overshadowing everything else, this was the first question that had popped to mind. She knew that Fairy Tail and Phantom had always been in a bad relationship but if nothing had happened between them so far, why now? And if they were going to attack, why do it when no one is there?

"Who knows? We've had smaller skirmishes between us but never such a direct attack," Erza replied.

"Things will probably die down soon," Ria said.

Somehow, Lucy had a feeling that things were only heading for the worse.

000

"_Lucy Heartfillia!" a shrill voice called out. Lucy winced as she turned around to face a girl with long purple hair and dark blue eyes. _

"_Yes, Evangeline-san?" she answered politely. _

"_I challenge you to a duel!" Evangeline declared, pointing a slim finger at the blonde wizard. _

_Lucy sighed. "You know that Shishou has forbidden me to fight with anyone within the castle without her permission, Evangeline-san." _

_Evangeline let out a frustrated shout. Even she knew better than to defy the orders of Mistress Arkot who was the owner of the castle. Lucy inspected the purple haired girl. She had met Evangeline few days ago when the owner of a nearby castle had come on a visit. If she recalled, the owner's name was… Mirajane Hawkes. Evangeline had apparently tagged along as her bodyguard and ever since her fellow bodyguard had been beaten in a mock fight with Lucy on the first day, Evangeline had relentlessly followed her around asking for a duel. _

"_Is there anything more I can do for you?" Lucy asked, tilting her head. _

_Evangeline huffed out a breath. "I was asked to bring you to Lady Arkot and Mistress Hawkes. They would like to speak with you." _

_Lucy nodded. "I understand. Please lead the way, Evangeline-san." _

_They walked towards the direction of the dining hall. Lucy noticed that Evangeline was walking rather stiffly. Before she could regret her decision, she reached out her hand and put it on Evangeline's shoulder. The girl immediately reacted and grabbed Lucy's hand in a vice grip. When she realised who it was, she let go with a scowl. _

"_What is it?" Evangeline bit out. _

_Lucy raised her eyebrows at the harsh tone. "I was just wondering if there was anything on your mind. I noticed that you were walking rather stiffly. And the fact that you were surprised when I put my hand on your shoulder means that you were distracted," she said. _

_Evangeline sneered. "I don't see how that's any of your business." _

"_I was just concerned for you," Lucy said with a frown. _

_A tense silence stretched between them until Evangeline sighed in defeat. _

"_I'm sorry I was harsh to you. It's just, when I said that Lady Arkot and Mistress Hawkes wanted to speak to you, I meant both of us. And I have a feeling that Mistress Hawkes is about to fire me as her body guard." _

"_What makes you so sure?"_

"_As you saw earlier in your duel with Thomas, not many of the body guards are particularly talented in what they do. In Thomas' case, he makes up his lack of skills with his crazy devotion for Mistress Hawkes. In all honesty, Mistresses Hawkes doesn't even need body guards but she employs people like us who can't do much except to fight so that we can support our family with the money we earn. Earlier, she jested that she should replace all the body guards with stronger ones but now I'm afraid that it wasn't a jest," Evangeline admitted with a worried frown. _

"_Are you worried that you won't be able to earn money for your family?" Lucy asked. _

_Evangeline shook her head. "No. I don't have a family so I was taken in by Mistresses Hawkes few years ago. She has been nothing but kind to me and the others. I'm just worried that she'll employ someone who is not loyal to her. What if they end up betraying her? That why I challenged you to prove my worth. I would be loyal to the end and protect her with my life if I must." _

_Lucy smiled. She and Evangeline were more similar that she had thought. "Don't worry Evangeline-san. If you're as devoted as you say, I'm sure Hawkes-san has no reason to employ someone else. I think she's very lucky to have someone like you protecting her," Lucy reassured. _

_Evangeline's expression softened as she smiled back at Lucy. "Thank you. I think I just needed to hear that from someone. You're nicer than you look." _

"_Why thank you," Lucy replied dryly. "I get that a lot." _

_Evangeline laughed heartily. "I think I just found myself a good friend." _

_Lucy grinned back. "I think I did too." _

000

Lucy looked around the Magnolia Southgate Park. She had heard some whispers about something related to Fairy Tail from the people around her during her walk to the guild. With a deep sense of dread settling in the pit of her stomach, she had quickly teleported herself to the park only to find a large crowd surrounding a particular tree in the middle of the park. She pushed her way through the crowd until she was standing directly in front of the tree.

Her eyes darkened in anger when she saw team shadow gear battered and bruised nailed to the tree. On Levy's stomach, the Phantom's insignia was drawn messily with black ink.

"Phantom…" came an enraged voice next to her. It was Natsu who looked just as angry as she felt. Erza and Gray stood next to him, looking up at their guild mate. Happy stood in shock and Ria let out a small cry of anger.

"_Somebody get them down from there!" _came a voice from the crowd. _No, you dipshit! _Lucy thought viciously with deep sarcasm and anger.

"_But look at that mark, we'd better stay clear…" _came another voice form the crowd. In that moment, she seriously wanted to go and murder each and every single member of Phantom. She would teach them not to harm her family. Just then, Master appeared with a grave expression. The crowd immediately fell silent at the heavy atmosphere.

"Master…" Erza said with a strained voice.

"I can stand being reduced to a run-down beer hall…but no parent can stand idle while the blood of his children is being spilled!" Makarov said, his voice slowly rising in anger. "This is war!"

A cruel smirk took over Lucy's face. Just what she wanted. She would crush every one of them.

_Hang in there, Levy, Droy, Jet. After this is over, we can all have a party and Levy, you can borrow as many books as you like. Until then, stay safe. _

000

"_What do you think powers are for?" a ten years old Erza asked to an eight years old Lucy. _

_Lucy tilted her head, wondering what had brought on the question. Nonetheless, she answered, "Isn't it to beat the bad guys with?" _

_Erza smiled. "You're not wrong. It is partly to beat the bad guys with but therein lies another question. Who are the bad guys Lucy?" _

_Lucy frowned. What kind of question was that? "That easy. They're the ones who hurt others for their own need." She was reciting a quote from one of her favourite books about a dashing hero of justice who vanquished evil villains to rescue the people in need. Lucy had always aspired to be a strong protector, just like the hero from her books. Even after realising that heroes of justice did not exist, she couldn't just simply drop her dream of protecting everyone. _

"_What if they were hurt too and they're hurting others because they didn't want to hurt anymore? I beat bad guys to fulfil a mission. So technically, I'm hurting them for my own need. Does that make me a bad person too?" Erza asked. _

_Lucy immediately answered. "No way! Erza-san can't be a bad guy. Because you're protecting other people, you're a good person." She nodded to herself, satisfied with her reply. _

"_But even bad guys have things they're protecting. So doesn't that make them good guys too?" _

_Lucy's confidence faltered at that. She didn't know how to answer this question. She frowned as her brain thought over what the redhead had said. In the end, she only managed to confuse herself. _

_Erza ruffled Lucy's hair. "I'm not trying to confuse you Lucy and I'm not saying you're wrong. I know it's a bit early for you to understand but you need to know that this world isn't just about black and white and 'good' and 'bad'. Life is full of grey areas and there are some things we just won't understand. So when you beat up a 'bad guy' with your powers, you need to keep in mind that all lives are precious and that you can't just throw lives away based on the fact that they're a 'bad guy'."_

"_Black? White? Grey?" Lucy repeated in a daze. _

"_I guess it really was too early for you," Erza said with a small laugh. "Don't worry. You'll understand what I mean when you grow up." _

_Lucy nodded slowly. She only had a vague idea of what Erza was saying but she did know that this was important to the requip wizard. She stored the conversation at the back of her mind so that she'll understand when she's older. She grinned up at Erza. "I don't really understand but it doesn't matter if I'm not a bad guy right? I'll never be a bad guy because I won't hurt others because that'll hurt you and I'll never hurt you. I promise I'll always protect you and everyone else." _

_Erza chuckled. "Yeah, I know you will. So it's a promise?" _

"_Yup! It's a promise."_

Lucy stared at her hands as she thought back to the distant memory and the promise she had made.

"_I'll never be a bad guy because I won't hurt others…" _Why had she said something like that? Why had she made such a promise? She had been so innocent. So oblivious to the world. In the end, she had broken the promise, many times over. She continued to stare at her hands and saw them covered in blood; blood of people and creatures who may or may not have deserved their untimely end which she had brought upon them with those very hands.

Time seemed to have a strange way of changing people.


	9. The start of a war

_Lucy shakily got to her feet. Her vision swam and her senses were dull. Her hair was matted to her forehead with blood and sweet. Her breathing was laboured and it was obvious that if she pushed herself anymore, she would greatly damage her body. _

"_Are you giving up already?" Erza taunted. Although her voice was mocking and challenging with a harsh edge, her eyes were calm and observing. _

_Lucy took several deep breaths. She felt as if someone had set fire to her lungs and then proceeded to rip it apart painfully. She slowly shook her head and even this tiny motion sent an immeasurable amount of pain jolting down her neck. "No… I can…" with each word she spoke, the fire became more intense until she couldn't even breathe. "…still figh-" her sentence was cut off as she groaned in pain. Her body ached all over with cuts and bruises. Finally, her legs could no longer support her and she fell to the cold hard ground with an anguished cry._

_Erza frowned and dropped her fighting stance. "No, you obviously can't. I think I've beaten you enough times for today. Go and get some rest for tomorrow's session. I'm not going to hold back just because your muscles ache." With that, she turned to leave. _

_Lucy gritted her teeth. She ignored the pain coursing through her chest and called out, "Wait!" _

_Erza stopped and turned around with a scowl. She watched as the younger girl attempted to get up, only for her arm to fail her and collapse on the ground all over again._

"_I'm not done…" Lucy grunted and tried to steady her erratic breathing. She blinked back the blood that had trickled down her forehead and into her eyes. "I'm not done ye- AAGH!" _

_She cried out as a sharp kick was delivered to her ribs. There was an unmistakable sound of crushing bones and Erza watched as Lucy writhed on the floor in agony, occasional whimpers escaping her lips. She teleported back to her original place and sneered down at the girl. _

"_I don't think so," she said as she turned her back on her student. Before she disappeared, she left a final piece of advice. "Look kid, knowing when to give up and back down is another quality you need to have. There's no need to risk your life just because you have too much pride to admit that you can't beat your opponent. When it comes to that, just back down and become stronger. That way, you won't have to next time. That's all there is to it."_

_At this, Lucy finally stopped resisting and let the darkness overtake her. She knew that her Shishou was right but it still frustrated her to see how weak and powerless she was. She would rest for now and come back stronger tomorrow. She would become stronger so she wouldn't have to feel the frustration of being helpless and unable to do anything ever again. She would become stronger so that she wouldn't have to back down. She would become stronger to protect. To protect her family that she hadn't been able to in the past, to protect her friends who had died because of how powerless she was and to protect the one she loved the most whose life had been taken away right in front of her eyes because she was too weak. _

_Powers to protect. That was all she had ever wanted. _

000

_Dammit, dammit dammit! _Lucy yelled angrily in her head as she paced around the infirmary as quietly as possible. She was fuming inside. How could everyone just leave her while they went to exact revenge on Phantom Lord?

"Geez Lucy, calm down before you blow something up. You know that Master made you stay because someone had to protect Levy, Jet and Droy," Ria said. Lucy stopped pacing and took a deep breath. Ria was right and Makarov was right. Someone did need to stay and make sure that they remained safe and Lucy knew deep down that she wouldn't have been able to rest easy knowing that the injured Team Shadowgear was left alone. She was letting her anger get the best of her and that wasn't a good sign. She needed to calm down and think rationally before she did something she would regret later on.

"Sorry, you're right. I'll try and control my temper from now," Lucy apologised.

There was a moment of silence until Ria spoke up. "Lucy…I'm not too sure about this but there's something I need to tell you." She was fidgeting slightly.

Lucy smiled to show that she was ready to listen. "What is it?" she prompted.

Ria let out a breath and whispered, "I have a really bad feeling about our current situation."

Lucy was surprised. She too had felt a sense of foreboding ever since her dream the day before but she had simply marked it down as her being paranoid. But now that she knew that even Ria has felt it, dismissing the notion was no longer an option.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. And I have a feeling that it's not even about the Phantom attack. It's more like…" Lucy trailed off, trying to find the right words.

"Something that runs deeper into your past," Ria finished for her. Lucy nodded.

"I hope nothing bad happens," Lucy said.

Ria rolled her eyes. "At this point, I wouldn't count on it."

Lucy was inclined to agree as she slumped into her chair. She thought about the others. They were probably at Phantom's headquarters by now and wreaking havoc. Since Makarov had also decided to join the counterattack, Lucy had no doubt that they were winning, Jose or no Jose. She desperately wanted to join and cause some damage of her own but looking at the battered form of Levy, Jet and Droy, she knew that she had higher things to take care of on her priority list.

She looked out of the window and found that the sky was starting to become grey. She sensed an oncoming shower which she didn't mind in the least. At least when it rained, the sun was blocked out most of the time unless the rain fell while the sun was out high in the sky, which she absolutely abhorred. Be in the sunlight AND get soaked to the bone? No thank you.

"You should get some fresh air," Ria said, noticing Lucy's wandering gaze. "It'll help to calm you down."

The blonde mage contemplated the suggestion. It was a sensible idea and she could definitely do with a clearer head.

She got up from her chair. "Alright. We'll just pop outside for five minutes and we're coming back in."

"Sounds good to me."

Giving her unconscious friends a one final look over, she turned and walked out of the door. The street was completely empty; not a single life could be seen. Lucy wondered why that was. Usually, lots of people milled around the area, chatting and exchanging gossips. She quite liked the change of atmosphere. As she had expected, a few drops of rain landed on her head before more and more joined. Soon, the sky was pouring rain and Lucy was getting soaked. She could easily put up a physical barrier but she didn't mind standing in the rain from time to time. Ria, however, did not agree and darted back into the local infirmary to take shelter.

To her displeasure, the sky quickly cleared and revealed the sun blazing in all its glory yet the rain continued to pour. She frowned. _Great, just the weather I was hoping for. _Lucy thought sarcastically. She was just about to head back in when a woman's voice caught her attention.

"Drip drip drop. Juvia is the rain-woman." It was a girl who looked to be the same age as Lucy. She had dark blue hair that curled up at the end and she was wearing generally dark clothing. On her head was a dark blue fur hat. Lucy stared at the hat. It looked rather well-made and she couldn't help but wonder where the girl had gotten the hat. Not that she would wear it.

"Who are you?" the girl asked Lucy without even pausing in her steps.

Lucy watched warily as the girl who referred herself as Juvia walked by. "I could ask you the same," she replied.

Juvia ignored Lucy's question and continued walking. She opened up a pink umbrella. "It was a pleasure. Fare thee well," she said, not even sparing the blonde mage a glance. Fare thee well? Who even talked like that anymore?

Lucy shrugged. Whatever. "Okay. Um…fare thee well also…I guess," she said. She turned back to the direction she was heading to originally. Just then, a male voice called out.

"Non non non!" Lucy sighed. What the hell was going on now? The voice continued with its annoying little chant. "Non non non! Non non non non non non non!" A strange looking green haired man emerged from the ground and lifted his hand in a dramatic gesture. Lucy could already tell that she wasn't going to like this man.

"With non of 3,3,7, I say to you, bonjour!" he finished with a flourish. Damn, he really was annoying. Good thing Lucy had plenty of experience dealing with annoying people. From the corner of her eyes, she could see the girl from earlier finally stopping in her tracks. "Juvia-sama, you mustn't abandon your job now," he said, addressing the girl. So apparently they knew each other.

"Monsieur Sol," Juvia acknowledged.

"Monsieur Sol? Doesn't that translate to Mister Sun? Looks like your mortal enemy has appeared at long last," Ria said to Lucy in a whisper. The girl had come out to see the spectacle close up. Ria had a point though. Lucy hated the sun. No wonder the man was so annoying.

"My monocle, it whispers to me, yes. It tells me that this mademoiselle is our beloved cible," he announced. The two strangers directed their gaze on Lucy who waved.

"Um…hi," she tried. She ignored the fact that she had just been called their 'beloved cible'.

"Oh? So it was this girl?" Juvia asked in monotone. Lucy had no idea what they were talking about but it sounded awfully like an attempted kidnap. Although the word 'cible' pretty much confirmed her suspicions, she was never a one to assume so she stayed silent.

"I do apologise for the late introduction," Sol said, bending to his right in such a way that no normal human should be able to. "My name is Sol, one of the Element four."

Oh, that made much more sense. From the looks of things, Sol's element was most likely earth and Juvia's was obviously water. She had heard of the Element four before back on Earth but she hadn't really paid them much attention. Now she wished she had done a bit more research.

"And I assume you're here to…kidnap me?" Lucy asked.

Sol smiled. "Indeed, mademoiselle. We are here to take you to the great Phantom Lord."

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "Why me?" The bad feeling she had been feeling earlier came back all of a sudden, except ten times worse.

Sol clucked his tongue. "Non non non. That question will have to wait."

Acting purely on her instincts, Lucy jumped back just in time to avoid being trapped in the water bubble that hovered in her previous position. She quickly went through the situation in her head and decided that it was best if she gathered more information for now.

She quietly whispered to Ria who was nearby. "I'm going to go along with them for now to find out more information. When they capture me, follow them back to their base and make sure that nobody tries to rescue me. Tell Erza-san and the others that I got caught on purpose and will meet them back at the guild."

Ria nodded and flew out of sight without being noticed. Feeling reassured that Ria had the message, Lucy allowed herself to be captured by the water sphere this time.

Despite having her captured, Juvia looked displeased. The girl's ego was most likely damaged when Lucy had managed to evade the attack. "Juvia's water lock cannot be broken," Juvia informed Lucy who honestly could care less. "I shall not hurt you. It is my mission to bring you back alive."

"Then lead the way Juvia-san," Lucy said with a mock smile. She wasn't sure if she could be heard outside of the so-called water lock but judging from Juvia's mildly irritated expression, she was heard loud and clear.

000

Lucy didn't think she would actually fall asleep in the water lock. Except she did. And this baffled her to no end. Despite her constant attempts, she still had a hard time falling asleep but to think that being in the water lock would lull her to sleep. Lucy found that really interesting. She wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or not but maybe she could convince Juvia to do it again just to test her theory. When she woke up, she was lying on a cold stone floor with her hands tied behind her back with a rope. She almost scoffed. Did they really think a rope would be able to restrain her? She had to wonder though. Just how long had she been asleep for? She sat up and looked around to familiarise herself with the place. It was just a plain cell obviously designed to keep prisoners in.

"Awake are we, Lucy Heartfillia-sama?" a voice called out.

"I see your observation skill is wonderful," Lucy replied dryly. At her response, the metal door creaked open and a creepy man with an equally creepy moustache walked into the cell with an even creepier smile. Lucy vaguely recognised him as Phantom Lord's guild master, Jose.

Lucy quickly assessed her current situation. Her guild mates were probably still engaged in battle with Phantom Lord so it wouldn't be a very bright idea to escape too early and anger Phantom's guild master. That would only cause an angry retaliation which she wasn't sure her friends could handle so soon after their fight with Phantom. Although she didn't doubt the individual strengths of Fairy Tail, that didn't mean she didn't worry about her family. She knew that it was best not to take risks, especially since Team Shadowgear was out of commission and had to be taken care of. Lucy would have to stall and draw out her conversation with Jose as much as possible.

"You are not what I expected from the daughter of the Heartfillia Konzern. I had reports that you were declared dead when you were five years old so I was rather sceptical of the request but I am pleasantly surprised that she was right. But that matters not. I am the guild master of Phantom Lord, Jose," the man said with a small bow.

Lucy ignored his comment about her heritage. What did it matter anyway? Her parents were dead and she was pretty sure all the fortune was locked up somewhere which she had no intentions of claiming. She hoped that the man wasn't after her money because that would have meant that her friends were hurt for no reason. And she didn't think she could control her actions if it came to that. Besides, he had mentioned a 'she' but who in this world could possibly want her kidnapped. Instead of dwelling about the matter, she got straight to the point. "Okay, so who hired you to kidnap me?"

There was a flash of surprise on Jose's face until he once again displayed his creepy paedophilic smile. "Ah, not the one to beat around the bush, I see. And to answer your question, she said she was a very old acquaintance of yours."

Lucy racked her brains for such a person and she came up with a blank. She had only just settled down in Earthland so she knew there wasn't anyone outside of Fairy Tail who she was relatively close to. Unless…no, that was a ridiculous idea.

"Did she tell you her name?" Lucy asked, studying Jose's face for any hints of a lie.

He looked down at her with an expression full of hunger. It was hunger for more power and hunger for more money. Lucy recognised those expressions well. She ignored the beginnings of rage building up in her stomach and let out a deep breath. She wasn't usually so easy to rile up so she didn't understand what it was about the man that got her so easily worked up. Maybe it was the attitude. Maybe it was the smile. Or maybe it was the fact that he was nonchalantly conversing with her as if they were old friends despite the fact that he was the main perpetrator of this incident.

Jose twisted his lips into a thin smile. "I may have heard the name Evangeline get mentioned somewhere in her introduction."

Lucy froze. Her brain completely stopped working at the mention of that name. Evangeline? _The _Evangeline? Her eyes widened when she realised what all this was about. Shit. She needed to inform everyone. But then again, she needed to stall the conversation. She desperately pushed her panic to the back of her mind and tried to calm her breathing. A flood of emotions ranging from guilt to fear came rushing in all at once and overwhelmed her. All this at the mention of _one_ name.

She hadn't even thought that she would ever hear the name again. She had hoped that it had been buried somewhere in her mind where she could never reach but now it came back to haunt her. She had been so sure that she had successfully run away from that part of her past but she was wrong. So wrong. Now she was being forced to face the skeleton that had been lurking in her closet for three years and she was absolutely terrified of what her friends' reactions would be once they saw. Then the thought her hit like a tonne of bricks. _God, how the hell am I going to explain this to everyone? _

Suddenly, she found the air to be suffocating and she didn't think she would be able to talk with Jose without seeming odd or drawing suspicion .The last thing she needed was for Jose to start sniffing around Eva and finding out about her past. The only hesitance she had was the fact that the true motives of Jose for attacking Fairy Tail and kidnapping her was still yet to be revealed. What did he personally have to gain from doing that, especially since the magic council had rules forbidding wars between guilds?

But her mind wasn't in the right state for her to be able to concentrate on anything else but the dread weighing down her heart.

"What's the matter, Lucy Heartfillia-sama? You have been rather quiet for the last 3 mintues. Perhaps you're thinking about the worthless trash of Fairy Tail?" Jose asked with a sick grin.

Lucy immediately flared with anger and indignation. How dare he call her family trash? "I dare you to say that again," she snarled.

Jose chuckled. The sound was most unpleasant and only succeeded in amplifying the blonde mage's hatred towards the man. "You are quite the feisty one. But worry not, for I have made sure that they were…_taken care of_." His grin turned feral at this point. "And what better way to do that than by picking out the biggest weed in the garden?"

Lucy shot up from her position. He had better not be implying what she thought he was implying.

As if reading her expression, Jose cackled. "Oh yes. And I see you also have a sharp mind. You catch on quick, Lucy Heartfillia-sama."

In a flash, she delivered a direct kick to his jaw with little restraint on the force and immediately heard the satisfying crack that indicated the dislocation of his bones.

"You better watch your back because I'll be sure to hunt you down and crush you to pieces." With that final warning, she teleported away before Jose even had the chance of coming back to his senses.

When she appeared in the guild, she gasped at the state of her guild mates. Everyone was injured and depressed and there was a heavy atmosphere hanging over their heads. She gritted her teeth as she thought back to what Jose had said. She had hoped that he was merely bluffing to get a reaction out of her but what she saw told her that he had been telling nothing but the truth, as much as it pained her to admit.

Ria was the one to notice her presence first. "Lucy! You're back!" she shouted, alerting everyone else in the room. Despite the obvious lack of cheer, each murmured their own greetings and some even asked her if she was unhurt.

"Yeah, I'm back," she said softly, mindful of the tension lingering in the air. She broke her restraints with a sharp tug and shook her wrists. "What's going on?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"Master is gravely injured. His magic was completely sapped and this caused an opening for the enemy to attack. We retreated before things could get out of hand," Erza replied solemnly, confirming Lucy's suspicions. Lucy looked around the room and immediately felt a flash of rage before she shook it away. Now wasn't the time for that.

She took a deep breath and called for everyone's attention. "During my capture, I managed to find some information regarding Phantom's motive for striking an attack against us," she announced. She paused before revealing the next part. "And I'm afraid that this incident is my entire fault…"

000

"_Evangeline-san, we should start heading towards the dining hall now," Lucy said as she checked the grandfather's clock placed in the centre of the space between the bookshelf and the furnace. The room was nice and cosy with its warm yellow walls and the various different paintings of landscapes hung strategically around the room. It was one of the Arkot Castle's many guest rooms and currently, it was being occupied by the purple haired girl and mistress Hawkes who had once again come to visit Lucy's mentor. _

"_After one more game," Evangeline stubbornly said. She was talking about the game of chess they had started playing four hours ago. They were about evenly matched in terms of skills but currently, Lucy was leading with one more win and because of Evangeline's competitive nature and her need to make everything into a competition, Lucy was being challenged with another game yet again for the eleventh time that day in one sitting. It was rather impressive actually. _

_However, Lucy sighed and shook her head. "As much as I'd love to, you know that Natsu-san will be angry with us if we stall any longer." Natsu in this world, Lucy had found with much surprise, was the temperamental head chef of the Arkot Castle who tended to Lucy's meals each day. He was a stickler for punctuality and hated seeing food being mistreated or wasted. He had drilled into Lucy's head the importance of manners and proper etiquette when dining to the point in which the blonde mage was sure that if she heard the phrase 'back straight' one more time, she would explode into million pieces. _

_In other words, he was completely different from the Dragon Slayer she knew back on Earth. _

_Evangeline frowned, showing her disappointment. "You're right. We better get going." _

_Lucy smiled. "We can always have another match some other day," she suggested. At this, the other girl's expression brightened and she nodded enthusiastically until she realised her own behaviour and blushed in embarrassment. _

"_Yeah, sure," Evangeline said in a calmer tone of voice. _

"_I'm still going to win next time though," Lucy grinned. _

_Evangeline smirked and raised an eyebrow. "We'll see about that. Today's success was due to pure luck. You won't be so lucky next time." _

_Lucy merely shrugged before getting up from her seat and advancing towards the door. She heard the sounds of footsteps behind her as Evangeline followed. _

_There was a brief moment of complete silence until Evangeline hesitantly called out, "Lucy."_

_The blonde girl looked over her shoulder. "Yes, Evangeline-san?" _

_Evangline bit her lip slightly, seemingly contemplating about something. Lucy waited patiently for the girl to respond, and she did, after a minute. _

"_I'm not really good at expressing things like this but if it means anything to you, you're the first person I've made friends with, as well as the only one. So um…thank you. Despite how annoying you are at times, I really enjoy spending time with you." _

_Lucy stared in surprise. Whatever she had been expecting, it certainly wasn't this. Although she had millions of humorous comebacks swirling around in her head, she felt that she should reply with equal sincerity that Evangeline had shown her. _

"_I umm…" she awkwardly started. She was sure that no matter how bad Evangeline was at expressing herself, Lucy was worse. "Although you are not my first or only friend, I also enjoy spending time with you. I think I can relate to you a lot," she finished with a warm smile which the other girl returned. _

_For the rest of their journey to the dining hall, they walked in a comfortable silence, each remembering the first time they had walked down the very same corridor heading to the same exact place. _

000

"What do you mean?" Erza asked with a frown. There was a round of murmurs between everyone, each speculating what Lucy could be saying. Ultimately though, Lucy had their full attention.

Lucy swallowed. "I asked him why I was targeted and although I don't know what his personal reasons are, I know that he's taking on a job from someone."

"Okay, but why's that your fault?" Natsu asked.

"Because I know the person. Her name is Evangeline Hawkes and if what I'm assuming is correct, she's here to take revenge on me," Lucy said. She heard Ria's gasp. The small girl recognised the name since she had been there with Lucy. From that, it wasn't too hard to realise what revenge the blonde mage was talking about. But then again, the rest of the guild probably had no idea.

"Revenge for what?" Gray asked.

Elfman scratched his head. "Did you do something bad to her?"

Lucy stared at the ground and clenched her fists. _Say it! Just tell them! _Her mind screamed. But she was too much of a coward. If only they knew… But Lucy was scared that she would be kicked out. She was scared that her friends…her family would feel disgusted with her once she revealed the truth. She already lost several families and she wasn't about to lose another.

With a voice full of regret, she said, "I'm sorry but I don't think I'm ready to tell you yet but you can be sure that what I did is unforgivable and she has a perfectly valid reason to seek revenge against me. I so sorry for dragging everyone into this mess…"

There was a moment of silence until Natsu stood up. "Well whatever the reason, your home is Fairy Tail right? And we're your family so there's no way we're going to abandon you. We'll beat the Phantoms up together and wait until you're ready to tell us. Right everyone?"

There was a chorus of agreement from everyone else. After Natsu's passionate speech, everyone was fired up once again and each vowed to take revenge against Phantom for hurting their master and their family. Lucy gazed at everyone in wonder. How was she so lucky to find these wonderful friends? She felt as if a huge weight had lifted from her chest and smiled back at Ria who was grinning at her in relief through her tears. Lucy felt a hand touch her arm and turned to see Erza who gave her a determined look.

"Natsu's right. You're already an indispensable member of our family. Everyone has a painful past they don't want to talk about but that's okay because we have each other to lean on when we're sad. Family are there to support each other and you're no different Lucy. Although we've only met a while ago, I feel like you've been part of Fairy Tail from the beginning and I can safely say that I trust you to take care of my back during a battle."

Lucy didn't know what came over her when she surged forward and gave Erza a fierce hug. Maybe it was the speech, maybe it was the acceptance, maybe it was something else entirely but whatever it was, it filled Lucy's heart with genuine warmth that she hadn't felt in a while. Erza seemed surprised at first but she eventually returned the hug. Lucy choked out a 'thank you' and then added _I love you _in her head. She hoped that her actions were enough to convey her silent message that she was too afraid to say out loud. Realising that she had been holding onto the requip mage for a while, she awkwardly pulled back and offered an apologetic smile. She then went over to Natsu and Gray where she expressed her gratitude to them as well. She went around the room, thanking everyone and helped with their injuries to the best of her abilities. She knew that it wouldn't be long before Phantom retaliated and she wanted her friends to be in their best shape for the upcoming fight.

Although she wanted to visit Makarov and see how he was doing, she was assured by her friends that their master was in the capable hands of Porlyusica. However, this was a name Lucy had no recollections of hearing before. She wondered why there hadn't been a Porlyusica on Earth since everyone seemed to have their counterpart. Porlyusica and Mystogan, Lucy reminded herself. Despite not personally having met the woman in question before, her friends seemed to trust her enough to ease her worries.

She walked over to where Mirajane and Cana was. Cana was looking at her fortune telling cards intensely before she gave a shout of frustration and scattered the cards to the ground. "No good! I can't find where Mistogan is!"

Mirajane, who was talking to someone with a communication lacryma, slumped her shoulders. "I see…that's too bad."

Cana groaned. "If their target is Lucy, then they'll come to attack us again. Many are injured…we'd be in a tough spot."

Mirajane turned her full attention back to the lacrima and spoke in a quiet voice. "Master is seriously wounded. We cannot find Mistogan. You're our only hope, Laxus." Lucy walked closer to inspect the person shown in the lacrima. Sure enough, Laxus' image was there as clear as day, his expression twisted into a sneer. Mirajane continued. "Please come back…it's an emergency."

"Serves that shitty geezer right!" Laxus shouted with a harsh laugh. "It doesn't concern me. Go ahead and take care of it yourself."

Lucy frowned at that. She almost didn't recognise the man. Back on Earth, he had certainly been arrogant and stand-offish but once you got to know the guy, he really was dedicated to Fairy Tail and had always helped out in times of crisis. He had even helped Lucy train from time to time, offering her tips and guidance when he was in a good mood. But this person Mirajane was talking to… it was almost a completely different person. Because despite the occasional spats, Laxus had always been there for his grandfather and the two were very close. Maybe the Laxus on Earthland was different.

"Lucy, our comrade is being targeted," Mirajane pressed.

"Huh? Who's that? Oh…that creepy blonde haired newbie, huh," Laxus chuckled, as if finding the entire situation amusing. Lucy arched an eyebrow at his choice of descriptions regarding her. Where had the creepy come from? Laxus twisted his lips into a feral grin. "Well tell her that if she becomes my slave, I'll help her out. And tell the geezer to hurry up and retire so that I can become master."

Cana glared at the lacrima. "Laxus, how dare you…"

That was all Lucy could take. Laxus was obviously creating more tension and upsetting the two girls. She walked up to the lacrima and stared Laxus straight in the eye.

"Sorry but I will not become your slave, Laxus-san. And as strong as you are, your help will not be needed," she said slowly and deliberately. And then, without hesitation, she smashed her fist against the lacrima and broke it into tiny pieces. Cana gaped at her in shock while Mirajane silently spilled tears of frustration.

"I can't believe it…is such a person really a member of Fairy Tail?" she asked. Lucy placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay Mirajane-san. I'm sure Laxus-san has his own issues and will come around soon."

Mirajane quickly wiped away her tears and clenched her fists. "In that case, I will fight as well!"

At this, Cana rushed forward and firmly gripped the white haired girl's arm. She sent Mirajane a stern look. "Mira, you know you can't. In your current condition, you'll only be a burden on the others, even if you are a former S-class mage."

"You're an S-class mage, Mirajane-san?" Lucy asked in surprise. This was a new piece of information. The Mirajane back in Earth had been powerless as a mage and had mostly just helped out in the guild with admin stuff and tending to the bar. To hear that the Earthland Mirajane was a powerful S-Class mage…now that was a surprise.

Mirajane nodded sadly. "Yes, but I lost the majority of my powers when Lisanna died."

Being a curious person, Lucy wanted to push and ask what kind of magic Mirajane had, when and how she had learned to use it, how Lisanna had died as well as why she had lost her powers but seeing the girl's sad expression, she decided not to ask in respect for her privacy.

Just as she was about the change the topic, a huge tremor shook the guild hall and rambunctious sounds of something hitting water could be heard. Alzack, along with Bisca burst into the basement.

"Everyone! Come outside!" Alzack hollered. Everyone rushed outside and gathered in front of the guild hall. Lucy ran outside followed by Ria and stopped short at what she saw. They stared towards the sea with their jaws dropped and eyes wide with shock. For walking in their direction was Phantom Lord's guild hall, equipped with six large metal legs.

"The guild is walking…" Wakaba stuttered, almost dropping his pipe in astonishment.

Phantom continued its advance until it stopped a mile away and sat itself down. The Phantom's flag attached to one of its tower waved proudly in the air.

Erza shook with anger. "I never imagined they'd attack us like this…"

Lucy eyed the guild hall as one of its tower's top slowly slid down to create a platform for a canon which was aimed directly at Fairy Tail.

"That looks dangerous…" Ria said with a worried look.

"That's a magic convergent cannon!" someone gasped. "Are they trying to blow our guild away?!"

Seeing that the canon was starting to build up magic, Lucy sprang into action and stood in front of everyone. She stretched out her hands and created a huge silver shield. She wasn't sure if it was enough to stop the force but she had to try. She wasn't going to sit by idly and watch her friends get hurt. Not this time. Ria understood her determination and flew to a safer place, praying for her friend's safety.

"Lucy!" came simultaneous shouts from Natsu and Erza. She looked over her shoulder and was glad to see them being held back by the others. Good. Now she didn't have to worry about either of them jumping in. However, just as the canon was about the shoot, she was shoved roughly to the side and in her place stood Erza in her herculean armour, bracing for the impact.

"GET DOWN!" Erza shouted, and before Lucy could even react, the canon released the built up Ethernano and came straight to the requip mage.

"ERZA-SAN!" Lucy shouted as fear clawed at her heart. She couldn't even struggle against Elfman's hold as her body stood frozen and she waited with baited breath. When the light faded away, Lucy immediately spotted Erza's body lying on the ground, battered and burnt. She rushed over to the redhead and inspected her body for any serious damage. Although Erza was breathing heavily and blood was running down her arms and forehead, she found no fatal injuries and suspected that Erza would be fully recovered after a long rest. She sighed in relief. For a moment, she had assumed the worst and had let panic take over her.

"After Makarov…now Erza is unable to fight too…" echoed the voice Lucy recognised to be Jose's. Everyone looked up in surprise. "You don't stand a chance," Jose said. "Hand over Lucy Heartfillia right now."

Lucy snarled and was seriously contemplating the benefits of teleporting to Phantom's guild and killing Jose when she heard her friends' indignant protests.

"You're out of your mind!"

"Where in the world would you find a guild that offers up a comrade to an enemy?!"

"That's right!"

"Go back!"

"We won't hand over Lucy!"

Jose angrily roared, "Hand her over!"

Even with her laboured breathing, Erza managed to yell out, "We'd rather die than give up on our comrade!" Everyone hollered in agreement, yelling curses at Jose.

"Our answer won't change no matter what!" Natsu yelled. "We'll take you down!"

"I see…" came Jose's voice from the walking guild. "Then we'll fire an even bigger and stronger Jupiter! Now struggle in this 15 minute terror until it's reloaded!"

This immediately silenced everyone. Some trembled in fear at the thought of getting blasted by an even stronger attack from Jupiter. Erza had been immobilised just by stopping one shot, there was no way they could survive another. Lucy glowered at Phantom's guild.

"JOSE!" Lucy called out. This took everyone by surprise since they had never heard Lucy calling anyone by just their name other than Ria. "I don't know what you're hoping to gain from me but if it's because of money, you've been trying for nothing. My parents are dead, you moron! I have no money other than the ones I earn from jobs. Tell Evangeline-san this: if she wants to take revenge on me, she'd better face me directly! Because there's no way I'm going to be captured by the likes of you!"

"No money…" Jose's voice echoed. "No money?!" he screeched. "What do you mean no money?! Of course you have money! Your parents left you a huge amount of it! I'll teach you for taking me for a fool, Lucy Heartfillia!"

No sooner than he finished his rant, a huge number of dark clothed soldiers dropped from the guild and advanced towards the members of Fairy Tail.

"Feel the pain, Fairy Tail. You have two choices: Get killed by my soldiers, or die by Jupiter."

"Ha…he's bluffing. He won't fire. If he fires, it's going to kill his own men as well," someone reasoned.

Cana hardened her gaze. "Yes he will. That's Jose's magic, 'shade'. They're not human, they're just ghost soldiers that he created." She glanced at the canon that was slowly collecting the magic in the atmosphere. "We have to do something about Jupiter…"

Natsu slammed his fist into his palm. "I'll go smash it down! Happy!"

"Aye sir!"

Happy stretched out his wings and flew Natsu towards Phantom's guild at top speed. Gray and Elfman glanced at each other and came to a silent agreement.

"Elfman, we're going too!" Gray shouted as he advanced. Elfman followed with a shout of confirmation. Lucy looked around her as her friends battled against the Shades. She glanced at Erza who she was standing protectively in front of. The requip mage had slipped into unconsciousness just before the emergence of the Shades.

"Ria," Lucy said to the hazel eyed girl as she destroyed three Shades at the same time by swiping them through with a silver sword. Ria gave her attention to Lucy as she fluttered nearby. Lucy quickly dodged another Shade and stabbed it from behind. "I needed you to look after Erza-san in the infirmary nearby." She reached into her pocket dimension and pulled out a small glass vale containing some kind of clear liquid. She passed it to Ria who gingerly took it in her hands. "Take this and make sure that she drinks it. It won't be able to heal her completely but it'll definitely help speed up the process."

When Ria gave her a nod, Lucy quickly ducked down and placed both hands on Ria and Erza. "Make sure she's safe," she said as she teleported the two to the nearest infirmary outside of Fairy Tail.

As soon as the two disappeared, Lucy jumped up and with the silver sword in one hand and another in the other hand, she slashed at the wave of Shades coming towards her four times consecutively, charging the slices with magic so that for each slice, it extended to cut down at least five Shades at the same time.

She took a quick glance at the canon which was still gathering energy. With ten minutes to go, she believed that Natsu still had plenty of time. She trusted that he would stop Jupiter before it could be fired.

_I'm counting on you, Natsu-san. _


	10. Evangeline

Three more minutes to go before the big Jupiter's attack and there were still no signs of the canon stopping it's gathering of Ethernano. As much as she believed in Natsu and his abilities to pull through in a time of need, she couldn't help herself from becoming antsy with nerves. Erza's condition, Makarov's condition, Shades attacking her from all directions, the person behind this whole mess, her past as well the magic canon threatening to annihilate Fairy Tail at any given moment. All of this added up only managed to eat at her nerves. _Which is why, _she thought, as she jumped in front of Cana and Max to exterminate oncoming Shades, _I really need to stop thinking so much and calm the hell down. _

"Thanks," Cana breathed out, sweat trickling down from her forehead.

"Yeah, you really saved our butt," Max added in between his heavy breathing.

Lucy nodded. "No problem."

Two more minutes. In fact, she wondered how Gray and Elfman were doing. There had been no overly flashy magic going on in the Phantom's guild which made her wonder if they had even met their opponents yet. One more thing that came to mind was the fact that there had been no further attempts to capture her from Jose. Maybe the guy was brewing some twisted plan to snatch her away… not that she would let him.

One minute left. The only thing that stopped her from teleporting to Natsu then and there was the sight of Laki being overwhelmed by a large clump of Shades. Apparently, the Shades have started attacking each member by clumping together which was pretty decent tactic, she had to admit.

"The shy dam of love!" Laki shouted as she stretched her palms against the ground. At her command, sharp spikes of wood shot up and pierced the Shades. Lucy scratched her head as she tried to figure out the relevance of the incantation. Honestly, she wondered if Laki even needed to chant at all. Maybe the girl was just saying random things for fun, maybe she was quoting from yaoi doujinshis or maybe it was a tactic to throw her opponent off guard but whichever one it was, it never ceased to amaze Lucy how Laki seemed to be able to come up with different names every time. She was about to turn away when she spotted a Shade creeping up to the wood mage from behind. She quickly teleported and sliced the Shade in half.

Laki whirled around at the sudden intrusion to her personal space. When she saw Lucy holding her silver sword and the dissipating Shade, she put two and two together and grinned at the blonde mage gratefully. "Thanks Lucy," she said. Just as she finished expressing her gratitude, there was a loud splash in the direction of Phantom's walking guild. Lucy turned to see the canon crumbling to bits and splashing into the water below. She smiled. That was one worry off her chest. _About hundred more to go, yay, _a sarcastic voice sounding suspiciously like Ria's floated through her mind. She was now apparently imagining her friend's voice as well.

"All right!" Max yelled in glee.

"Jupiter's been destroyed!" Wakaba cheered.

"Now we have nothing left to fear! Annihilate the enemy!" Cana shouted, rousing everyone into action. Lucy could see that their stance was more confident compared to before and the morale was high amongst the members of Fairy Tail.

Suddenly, there was a loud creak and the guild hall stood up on its six legs, freezing everyone into place. The building twisted and slowly recreated itself into a giant golem-like contraption. It stood tall on its two massive legs and advanced towards Fairy Tail.

"It's heading this way!" Warren shouted in panic.

"Concentrate on the enemy in front of you! Natsu will definately stop that giant for us!" Cana shouted, trying to raise morale once again. Nobody responded as they were far too busy staring up at the giant with slacked jaws.

Lucy approached Cana quietly. "It's good that you're trusting Natsu-san so much but let's not forget that Natsu-san is currently inside the giant. The _moving _giant," she reminded. Cana's eyes widened with realisation and she responded with a silent 'oh'. They watched as the giant raised its hand and slowly, with precision, started drawing a magic circle in the air.

"It's a magical seal!" Cana gasped. "This building thing is a mage?!"

Lucy narrowed her eyes at the seal. _Great, more things to worry about._ But the more she stared at it, the more familiar it seemed.

"This seal…it's Abyss Break!" Mirajane's voice muttered from besides her.

Lucy whipped around and stared at the white haired mage. She should probably tell Mirajane to get to safety but at the moment, she couldn't bring herself to utter the words. Instead, she focused on the seal's name. Abyss Break… Wait… wasn't that one of the forbidden spells? From the distance, she spotted Happy flying around the giant.

"Happy-san!" she shouted, gaining the cat's attention. He flew down and hovered in front of Lucy.

"What's going on?" he asked with concern and a bit of fear laced into his voice.

Lucy nodded at the magical seal. "That's a seal called Abyss Break. Considering that the seal is so big, I'm estimating that the blast will probably destroy everything all the way to Caldia Cathederal. Please warn the others inside the giant," she informed. Happy gulped before nodding and flying away.

"Come on everyone! Focus on the enemies in front of us. The others inside will take care of the giant!" Cana commanded.

"I thought Natsu was the only one…?" Mirajane asked.

"Gray-san and Elfman-san are also inside," Lucy said.

Mirajane swivelled her head around to stare at Lucy with horror-filled eyes. "No…Not Elfman! He's not ready! He's not ready to fight yet!" She clenched her fists. She had to do something. Completely wrapped up in her inner turmoil, she disregarded the consequences and transformed into Lucy.

"Lucy, go hide!" She urged to the blonde mage and ran forward, her mind racing a hundred mile per second. "I'M THE ONE YOU'RE AFTER RIGHT?! STOP ATTACKING THE GUILD!" she yelled with all her might.

There was a slight pause before Jose's voice echoed across. "Disappear, little imposter. I knew from the start that the real Lucy Heartfillia wasn't there…" there was another pause and some rapid hushed whispers. Suddenly, his voiced screeched, "WHAT?! LUCY HEARTFILLIA IS STANDING JUST BEHIND?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU IMBECILE?!" Quiet, barely audible apologies broadcasted through the air. "You," Jose growled, addressing Mirajane. "How dare you take me for a fool?! Thought I was so dumb that you could get away with her standing right behind you? Attempting to deceive me…I don't think I like you, girl. I'll smash you to pieces."

With that, the giant's arm lowered and pinched Mirajane between two fingers, causing the girl to gasp for breath. The white haired mage thrashed and wriggled but to no avail as the grip around her only tightened. Lucy's first instincts were to teleport to the girl and rescue her but when she thought about Elfman, she stopped herself. She knew that Elfman was not yet at a level where he could defeat a strong opponent. However, if the life of someone he cared about was on the line, he may be able to break past the barrier and come out as a stronger mage. Lucy supposed she was thinking too logically but she had the ability of rescue Mirajane at any moment. If the other girl's life was truly endangered, then Lucy would take action. But for now, she wanted Elfman to become stronger.

"MIRAAA!" Cana shouted in despair. She rushed forward but Lucy put out a hand and calmly stopped her.

"Don't worry, Cana-san. I think that this will be necessary for Elfman-san to defeat his opponent. Having a loved one's life depending on their fight can really fuel motivation and growth. I know from personal experience," Lucy said. "Besides, I will make sure to step in and help Mirajane-san if push comes to shove."

This seemed to reassure Cana a bit and allowed the woman to once again concentrate on her fight. Lucy could still see a worried crease on her forehead but at least Cana was acting rationally. It was slightly weird, seeing the usually drunk woman taking on the role of leader as she motivated her team mates and took down enemies. But then again, when it came to Fairy Tail, nothing was short of amazing.

Lucy also joined in the seemingly endless fight with the Shades, periodically glancing up at Mirajane to check that the girl was doing okay. The giant continued to draw the seal with its other hand. Just as Lucy glanced up at Mirajane again, she spotted a beast-like figure pouncing onto the giant's hand and freeing the white haired mage from its grasp. Mirajane hugged the beast and it slowly turned back into Elfman. Lucy grinned as she saw the heart-warming sight of the two crying siblings embracing each other.

She was about to turn back and face the Shades now that Mirajane was safe but something caught her eyes and stopped her in her tracks. She observed the giant as it drew the seal and noticed that the speed in which it was being drawn was considerably slower. Why was that? Because Elfman had defeated someone from Phantom? But she had no idea who Elfman had fought.

She weighed up the options in her head. Stay here and help others hold back the endless army of Shades or go up to Elfman, figure out the connection between the seal and Phantom and stop half of Magnolia from being destroyed. In the end, after careful consideration, she decided that it was best if she were to help stop Abyss Break since that was the bigger danger. She teleported to the giant's hand where the Strauss sibling were standing.

Elfman and Mirajane jumped in surprise when Lucy suddenly appeared next to them.

"Gosh Lucy!" Mirajane gasped, "That really surprised me."

"Sorry," Lucy said, scratching her head. She then turned to Elfman. "Elfman-san, who exactly did you just defeat?"

Elfman gave her a perplexed look and frowned. "Um...it was one of the Element four I think. He called himself Sol."

Ah, the annoying sun guy. She looked to the side and confirmed that it was indeed the earth using mage. She felt a rush of satisfaction from seeing the man beaten to a pulp and mentally applauded Elfman. She knew that she had no real reasons for hating the guy but somehow, venting her frustrations on someone else helped to keep her emotions in check. She shook her head and focused on the matter of the seal.

Suddenly, Mirajane gasped. She whipped around to face Elfman. "Elfman! How many Element four are left?!"

"Um…two left…I think?"

"As I thought…when defeated Sol, the giant's movements became slower. In other words, the giant's source of power is the four Element of Phantom! If we defeat the entire Element four, we can prevent the spell!" Mirajane exclaimed.

"I see…" Lucy muttered. That made a lot of sense. Now all that was left was to defeat the element four. The only other one she knew was the Juvia girl from earlier. She smiled and put her hands on the Strauss siblings. "Thank you Elfman-san, Mirajane-san. You were both a great help. I'll try and find another Element four but in the meantime, please help the others with the Shades. I will teleport you down to where Cana-san is."

"Be careful, Lucy. Remember, we're always here for you," Mirajane said.

"I will," Lucy replied softly before teleporting the two back down.

She peered over the giant's fingers and watched as Cana pulled Mirajane into a fierce hug. Elfman transformed into the beast once again and charged at a horde of Shades, swinging his massive arms about. Lucy straightened her back and glanced up at Phantom's guild hall. Finding an Element four in this huge hall was going to be hard work.

_Or not, _she thought as she caught sight of an area where continuous rain was pouring. It wasn't too hard to guess which of the Element four was causing this strange phenomenon. She grinned and stretched her stiff neck. She was anticipating a good match with Juvia since the girl seemed rather strong. With no further delay, Lucy teleported to the area where it was raining only to find that…it wasn't raining. The sky had cleared up in an instant and she blinked at the sight before her. A tired Gray sat on the ground with Juvia stretched out besides him, equally exhausted.

Lucy raised her eyebrows. "Oookay. I think I'll leave you to it."

Juvia took one look at her and gasped. "Juvia's love rival!"

Lucy frowned. "I'm sorry what?" She turned to look at Gray for an answer but the boy only shook his head in equal confusion.

Juvia glared at her as intimidatingly as she could from her position on the floor, which wasn't very. From Lucy's point of view, the water mage came off about as scary as a puppy wearing a pair of sunglasses. Now that Lucy was able to take a closer look at Juvia without worrying about being caught in a water lock, the girl was kind of cute. Although, she wasn't being very cute at the moment, with the way she was glaring at Lucy as if she was the reincarnation of the devil himself. "You are my rival in love!" Juvia declared.

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "Are you after Erza-san too?"

This time, it was Juvia's turn to blink. "What? No. I mean for Gray-sama!" she said the last part in a dreamy tone and Lucy could almost see hearts in Juvia's eyes when she looked at the ice mage. Huh. Gray was surprisingly popular with the ladies. Trust him to unintentionally pick up a girl from the enemy side at a time of crisis.

"Oh," Lucy said, her frown disappearing. "That's fine then. I'm not interested in Gray-san at all other than as a friend. He's not really…_my type._" She emphasised her last point, hoping that the meaning would get across to the other girl. Unfortunately, it didn't.

"So you ARE interested in Gray-sama!" the water mage accused. From the side, Gray face-palmed in exasperation.

Lucy sighed. "Whatever. I'm not going to stand here and argue about my love life. I'm going to search for the remaining Element four."

"Wait!" Gray shouted. He quickly scrambled up to follow Lucy, which caused Juvia's expression to drop with disappointment. "I'll come with you. You might need help defeating the last guy. He has some freaky ability."

"That would be Aria," Juvia quietly said. "He's a wind mage. Be careful of his eyes though. If he takes off his blindfold and opens his eyes, you will never be able to defeat him because that is when he becomes most powerful."

Lucy stared into Juvia's eyes, trying to see if the other girl was being honest. The water mage met her gaze evenly and Lucy could see that Juvia was not lying. She briefly wondered why the girl was giving them, the enemy, such valuable information but quickly shrugged away the question. "Blindfold or no blindfold, I'll make him pay for hurting our master," Lucy replied, before walking away. Gray was quick to follow after giving Juvia one last look.

"Do you have any ideas where he could be?" Gray asked as they hurried down the stairs.

"I'm not sure but I'd like to check the main hall first. I just have this feeling…" Lucy said. Just then, the building shook and shuddered until it finally came to a stop. An almost eerie silence followed as they held their breath to await any further developments. A distant cheer from outside reached their ears and Lucy could only assumed that Abyss Break has been averted.

"It seems that Abyss Break has been averted," Lucy noted to Gray. "I wonder who defeated Aria-san."

"Probably Natsu," Gray said.

They hurried their pace and ran through the hallways and corridors until they finally reached a huge clearing. They stepped inside and found the area to be in shambles with bits of debris littering the ground and large cracks adorning the walls. As they ventured further into the clearing, instead of finding a triumphant Natsu standing over a defeated Aria, they spotted a familiar female figure sitting and leaning against a slab of stone.

"Erza!" Gray shouted in surprise.

"Ria!" Lucy frowned as she stared at her friend who was hovering nearby. "I told you to take care of Erza-san! This isn't exactly what I had in mind!" At her outburst, the silver haired girl flinched and stared at the ground with downcast eyes.

"Stop Lucy," Erza said weakly. "Don't blame Ria. I came here because I hated standing by doing nothing while my friends were getting hurt. Your potion really helped with my healing so thank you."

"Sorry Lucy. She was really stubborn and I couldn't stop her," Ria said regretfully in a small voice.

Lucy sighed and took a calming breath. "No, I'm sorry for yelling at you. I should have known this would happen, knowing the kind of person Erza-san is."

"Wow, were you the one who defeated Aria, Erza?" Gray asked in awe. "And in your condition, no less."

"Erza-san, you have to stop pushing yourself so much…" Lucy muttered, running her eyes over the requip mage for a brief condition check. She let out a breath of relief when she found no fatal injuries.

"Where's Natsu?" Gray asked.

"He's gone…to defeat the other Dragon Slayer from Phantom," Erza answered. Just then, a large crashing noise could be heard from above.

"Speak of the devil," Ria said.

Lucy opened her mouth to add in her own comment only to snap it shut as a wave of dark, oppressing sensation filled the room to the brink. Ria, Erza and Gray's eyes widened in shock.

"What is this sensation?!" Gray gasped.

A loud clap filled the tense air and it was followed by another. Then another until finally, Jose came into view surrounded by a dark aura.

"My my…what a wonderful show you all put on," he remarked as he slowly advanced towards them. "I never honestly expected you to provide me with this much entertainment."

"Jose…" Lucy growled.

His attention turned to her. "Lucy Heartfillia," he sneered. "All this could have been prevented had you come with me obediently. But it's too late now. I'll wipe you worthless brats off the face of Earthland and become the most powerful guild in all of Fiore!"

Lucy stepped in front of her friends and took off her black coat. She raised her fists in level to her chest and glowered at Jose.

"Yeah…you're right about one thing. It's too late. No matter how much you beg for forgiveness, I won't let you go until you've felt our pain a hundred, no a thousand times over."

"This is rather troublesome," Jose said. "What good will you be to me as a corpse?"

"What good are you either way?" Lucy shot back. "You look and sound like a paedophile, you walk like an old man and your magic is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen. In conclusion, _you _are the only worthless one around here. Or do I need to break your neck again for you to realise that?" She smirked when she realised that her taunts were working. Usually, she wasn't one for such petty taunts but the anger bubbling up inside her made her do things she wouldn't normally do.

"You…" the man growled. "I'll crush your guild and your so -called family. I'll make you feel the deepest form of despair."

Lucy shrugged. "Been there, done that. But you've just been standing there for five minutes. Are you all bark but no bite?"

This was the last straw for the man. He swiftly brought up his right hand and started gathering dark purple energy around it. When the swirling energy started glowing and was about to reach its peak, he raised the hand and shot an intense beam of the purple energy at Lucy.

Lucy surrounded her body with a silver barrier that made her glow around the edges. She especially concentrated the barrier on her fists and charged forward. She connected her open left palm with the beam and pushed it back to Jose who quickly stepped out of the way with ease. Without waiting for another second, Lucy teleported forward and swung her right leg at his head which he ducked under. He made a grab for her leg but she used her left leg to push back and do a backwards handspring. As soon as she landed on her feet a few meters away, she stretched out her right arm in front of her with her left hand holding onto her right elbow. She cocked her right fist back as much as she could and when she thrust it forward, she used the energy transferred from her left arm to shoot out a large silver sphere cackling with electricity from her extended fist.

Knowing that the man would simply move his head to dodge the attack, Lucy ran after the sphere. Just as she had suspected, Jose tilted his head to the right to evade the attack and when the sphere zoomed past him, Lucy quickly teleported behind him to face his back and shoved her fist into the ball of energy. She intensified the amount of energy cackling inside the ball, crouched low and threw her fist at Jose's back. The man reacted swiftly and was about to swivel around but Lucy had once again reappeared in front of him just in time for her fist to connect with his midsection, sending him flying back and causing him to cough out blood.

From her peripheral vision, she could see Erza smiling tiredly at her, Gray watching her with wide eyes and Ria cheering enthusiastically with vivid and rather inappropriate actions.

"I see…" Jose said as he rose, wiping the blood off his chin. "It seems that what they said about you was correct. You are a formidable enemy, I'll give you that." Slowly, an intense dark aura surrounded the area and swirled in a frenzy. "And the Titania too. To take on my Jupiter directly and still have enough energy to defeat one of my best mages, Aria. It pains me how such fabulous fighters are in Makarov's worthless guild! Phantom was always the best guild in Fiore until more and more strong mages joined Fairy Tail. Erza, Laxus, Mystogan, Gildarts…their names spread as far as my own hometown. And rumours of the Salamander spread throughout the entire country. Before I knew it, all everyone could talk about was Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail this, Fairy Tail that. I'm sick of it!" When he opened his eyes, they were completely black, as if he was consumed by the darkness. Jose continued to speak. "And do you know what finally pushed me over the edge? Lucy Heartfillia! The daughter of Hearfillia Konzern, bound to inherit her parents' vast riches joining Fairy Tail. As if being said to be the strongest wasn't enough, Makarov now has access to endless amounts of money from the Heartfillia family! It pissed me off!"

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows. From his impassioned speech, the one thing that stuck to her mind was Jose's use of the pronoun 'they' when he talked about being told of her powers. As far as she knew, Evangeline was the client. Had she brought someone else with her? If so, who could it possibly be?

She shook the thoughts out her head and instead scoffed at Jose. "And here I thought you were solely after the money. But you hurt my family because of some petty jealousy? That's such a dumb reason to start a war." She schooled her expression and looked directly into his black eyes without even flinching. "For that, I'll guarantee you that you won't be coming out of this with your whole body intact."

"Jealousy, no that wasn't the reason. We just wanted to make it painfully clear who is truly superior here!" Jose shouted as bits of the ceiling starting raining down around them. He smirked. "The Dragon really likes to wreak havoc," he said.

"Just shows that we're better at you in one more aspect doesn't it?" Lucy mocked.

Jose scowled at this and he released a whirlwind of dark energy at Lucy as well as at Erza and Gray. Although Lucy herself was able to deflect the attack, she was not quick enough to prevent the energy from hitting her friends. Lucy gritted her teeth as she heard her friends scream in pain. Her eyes momentarily flashed silver as thoughts of ripping apart Jose filled her mind. Ria fluttered over to her and tried to calm her down by whispering soothing words. Before she could lose control and dash over to Jose, the purple magic holding Erza and Gray in a tight hold dissipated and they dropped to the ground. At this, the rage clouding over her mind cleared and Lucy squinted against the dust to properly see the figure walking towards them. She already had a good idea as to who it was and she couldn't help but allow a small grin to take over her face.

"Magic?! Who's there?!" Jose yelled out in surprise.

"You have spilled much blood here… the blood of children," the figure spoke in an all-too-familiar voice. "Thanks to pitiful parents, a child went through pain and shed many tears…and that goes for more than one child. This has gone far enough…" the figure stepped out of the hazy cloud of dust and revealed himself to be Makarov, clad in his Saint Wizard robe. "I must put an end to this!" he said firmly.

"Master…" Erza whispered as tears of relief welled in her right eye. Lucy had never been so glad to see the old man before that moment. But as she stared at the fully recovered form of Makarov standing intimidatingly in his indignant rage at his children's suffering, she couldn't help but smile widely, despite the heavy situation.

Jose grinned sadistically. "You wish to cause a cataclysm?"

"If it is necessary for my guild," Makarov replied without hesitation. Then, addressing Lucy and the others, he said, "You must all leave this place."

Lucy nodded and jogged over to Erza and Gray with Ria flying next to her. She crouched in front of the two and offered a hand each to her friends.

"Do you think you can stand, Gray-san, Erza-san?" she asked. They nodded in confirmation and took her hands, both offering Lucy and grateful smile. She held on to her two friends and prepared them for teleportation back to the guild where everyone else was. She briefly looked over at Makarov who was having a stare-down with Jose.

"I'm glad you're not hurt master," Lucy said. After making sure that Ria was holding on, she teleported them back down to the ground in front of Alzack and Bisca who both jumped a little in surprise. When they saw who Lucy was with, they immediately regained their senses and dashed over.

"What are you doing with Lucy and Gray, Erza?" Bisca asked in concern, raking her eyes over the battered form of the requip mage.

"I couldn't just sit still while my friends were out there suffering," Erza replied, grimacing slightly as her side erupted into pain.

Bisca's eyes softened. "Oh, what are we going to do with you?" she said with a sigh but it was obvious that there was a hidden fondness underlying her words. Meanwhile, Alzack approached Gray and smacked his back.

"Well done in defeating the Element four. You really saved us back there," he said appreciatively.

Gray shrugged. "I only defeated one of them. You should thank Elfman, Erza and Natsu for the other three."

"Aww…no need to be so humble, Gray-san. You must have done _something _right, judging from the way Juvia-san was declaring a love rivalry between her and me with you in the middle," Lucy added with a small grin of amusement. Despite her status as Phantom Lord's mage, Lucy honestly didn't mind Juvia that much. From what she had seen of the girl so far, Juvia didn't really seem like a malicious girl at heart and there was something distinctly _pure _about her that Lucy knew she herself lacked. Perhaps, if the situation was different and Juvia didn't have the misconception that Lucy was interested in Gray, they could have been friends.

Gray groaned at the reminder and the others chuckled as they took this moment to forget all the stress they had been going through for the past few days. Unfortunately, it did not last long as a rapidly approaching Shade drew the gunslingers' attention and they hurried away to continue their efforts in holding back the enemy. It was then that Lucy managed to catch sight of the collapsed ruins of her guild hall. Her eyes widened in a mixture of shock and anger as countless of memories spent in the guild hall flashed through her mind.

The first time she had entered the building, only to be nearly hit by a flying beer glass.

The first solo mission she had chosen at the request board.

All the parties she had held with her close-knit family.

The first time picking an S-class job.

Sitting at a table with her friends and chatting her days away.

First time bringing Ria to the guild and introducing her to her friends.

Getting a guild mark on the back of her right hand and the sense of finally truly belonging somewhere.

All these memories came flooding in and it overwhelmed her with feelings of warmth, happiness, satisfaction, sadness and anger all rolled into one. Erza, Gray and Ria seemed to be in a similar state, all staring at the unrecognisable remains of their guild with fire burning in their eyes. Before anything could be said between them, a collective gasp from their friends behind them and a golden glow enveloping the area caught their attention. They turned around just in time to witness the scene of the Shade soldiers slowly dissolving into nothingness in the glow of the warm light. Lucy lifted her head to see the Phantom's guild that was only in a slightly better condition than Fairy Tail's guild hall. As she had suspected, the light originated from within the guild's walking hall and Lucy immediately knew that master Makarov had activated Fairy Law, a spell that was considered to be legendary.

There was a loud cheer of victory and relief rippled through the crowd of Fairy Tail members as they basked in the golden glow, unharmed by its presence.

"Hell yeah!" one shouted, "We kicked their asses!"

"How'd you like that, Phantom?!"

Lucy sighed as a gentle smile graced her lips. She was glad that the incident had finally come to a close with no one harmed fatally. However, her smile fell and a grim expression settled on her face as she remembered the real puppet master behind all this: Evangline and possibly someone else. With one hurdle overcome, another was placed in her path. What really bugged her was how the girl hadn't shown herself so far. Evangeline had many chances to use the catastrophe as a chance to approach Lucy and exact her revenge but so far, Lucy had seen or felt no trace of her old former friend. And of course, there was another question that kept nagging at her mind. How in the world did Evangline even get to Earthland? As far as she knew, Evangline didn't even possess magic to begin with and even if she had developed some over the course of time Lucy had been gone, she doubted it would be strong enough to cause a rift in the dimension and create a portal to an alternative universe.

In any case, she couldn't afford to drag her friends into the mess she had created any longer. Especially not when everyone was so tired and battered up after warding off an endless army for so long. Not when they were so radiant, now that they've won the war against Phantom. Not when they were in such high spirits now that master Makarov was back and hope was restored. She decided there and then that she needed to get away. Lure Evangeline as far away as possible from Fairy Tail. She quickly glanced at her friends and was relieved to see that their attention was focused on Phantom's guild and not on her. She silently slipped away from the crowd.

"Are you thinking of finding Evangeline?" Ria's voice called out quietly. Despite the shouts and cheers in the background, Lucy was still able to make out her friend's voice loud and clear. She turned around to face the silver haired girl and met her brown eyes with the hazel ones in front of her.

"Yeah. She wants to take revenge on me so it'll only be a matter of time before she reveals herself and when she does, I don't want the others around to get caught up in our problem," Lucy replied.

"Lucy…your problem is my problem as well, remember? That's what we promised each other back when we first met. I promised that I would always be there for you and you promised you'd always be there for me," Ria said with tears pooling in her eyes. "I'm really happy that you were the one who saved me back when my family was being killed. I'm really grateful that I was given a second chance at life and that's all thanks to you. That's why…that's why you're not allowed to do anything stupid like giving up on your life to repent for your past mistake. Everyone deserves a second chance Lucy, and you're no exception. Just promise me that you'll come back alive and not let Evageline get to you."

"I…I promise," Lucy whispered. She clenched her fists. What good was a promise though? Hadn't she broken so many already? But she needed to reassure Ria. Even if it meant making a promise she wasn't sure she could keep. She put on a smile in an attempt to lighten up the mood. "When I get back, we can tell everyone everything. No more secrets."

Ria smiled back. "No more secrets. That would be nice."

"Tell the others not to worry about me okay? And make sure they don't try and come after me."

"Sure."

With a final reassuring smile, Lucy teleported away. When she opened her eyes, she found herself situated in a forest with tall trees and little sunlight, just as she had imagined and wanted it to be. She had no idea where she was and which part of Fiore she was in, or if she was even in Fiore but she knew for certain that she was far away from Magnolia and subsequently, Fairy Tail.

"Kind as ever, aren't you, Lucy?" a female voice called out. It rang in the air and left a little echo in its wake. The tree leaves whistled in response and the wind picked up slightly. Lucy focused on the voice. It was a voice she had never thought she'd hear again but even after all these years, she recognized it immediately.

"Evangeline-san," she acknowledged. In a flash, a purple blur invaded her vision and she raised her palm just in time to catch the fist swung at her face. The high speed and force of the blow created a large shock wave, causing fallen leaves and soil to fly outwards and leaving a bare patch of ground where they stood. When the dust cleared, Lucy was face to face with Evangeline, their faces barely inches apart.

"And as annoyingly polite as ever," the older girl sneered as she pulled her fist back and teleported to a safer distance where she could observe Lucy's every motion. They stood at a standstill, reading each other's moves and body language, trying to lessen the gap of unfamiliarity that had been inevitably created by years of separation.

Lucy found it almost funny how little Evangeline seemed to have changed during the past three or so years. And as much as she didn't want to fight with her old friend, she knew that whatever hatred the other girl harboured for her, it was completely justified. In the midst of the tense silence, Lucy hesitantly opened her mouth. "I…" she was cut off by a sharp piece of pebble cutting the flesh of her cheek. It wasn't until a second later that she heard the sound of something travelling through the air in high speed. She felt a thin line of blood trickling down her cheek but made no move to wipe it off. Truthfully, the attack had been very poorly disguised and she had seen it coming before it was even sailing through the air but something within her had prevented her from moving out of the way.

"Shut yer trap… even after three years, you still manage to piss me off with your presence alone," growled a deep masculine voice.

"…Thomas-san," Lucy acknowledged_. So the 'they' Jose had talked about had been Evangeline-san and Thomas-san. _Really, she should have guessed from the start. If Evangeline was coming to take revenge, there was no way that Thomas would miss the opportunity to get back at her as well.

"_Thomas,_" Evangeline hissed in clear annoyance at the black haired boy. "I told you to stay back until the signal."

Thomas scowled. "You were takin' too long with yer business. Just kill 'er and get it over and done with." He turned to face Lucy with a mocking smile. "Remember lil' old me? I used ta get beaten up by you all the time. But now's different. I've grown stronger and can wipe yer ass any time. I'll kill ya and make you feel the pain you've made _her _feel."

"I figured it was something like that," Lucy commented with a distant voice. "And although I don't blame you for wanting to kill me because I definitely deserve death and more, I'm afraid I cannot die. I have made a promise with a precious friend and letting myself die would just be a betrayal of her trust."

Lucy noticed the way Evangeline's face seemed to darken at the mention of her 'precious friend' and only then did she realise how it could have brought unpleasant memories to the surface.

Thomas on the other hand, sneered. "Look at ya, talkin' as if you haven't done it before. You've betrayed plenty before so what's stoppin' ya now? Because as far as I remember, you were the one who killed her master in cold blood."

Lucy stiffened and her face hardened. However, she did not attempt to defend herself in any way. She knew that Thomas was speaking the truth. The truth that she had been trying to run away from for three years yet still plagued her endlessly every minute.

At her silence, Thomas grew enraged. "This is why I fuckin' loathe ya. Yer a goddamn coward." His voice then dropped to become almost impossibly low. "And most of all, yer a monster."

He lunged forward as he pulled out two short knives from his pocket dimension. Using his superhuman speed and strength, he brought down both his knives at Lucy's face. Calmly assessing the situation, Lucy could immediately tell that Thomas was letting his anger cloud his judgement. He was so consumed by his emotions that he hadn't even thought to aim for her vital parts and deal a fatal blow. She quickly reinforced her hands with magic and caught the knives in mid-air just above her face. Holding them in firmly, she pulled with enough strength to take it away from Thomas' hands and as he jerked forward, she kicked him squarely in his exposed stomach, sending him flying back into a group of trees which in turn caused them to groan and come crashing down. Lucy quickly flicked her eyes over to Evangeline who was watching them fight with calculated eyes. For a moment, there was a flash of _something _burning in those dark blue eyes but Lucy wasn't sure what it was exactly.

Her thoughts were soon interrupted by Thomas' cough. The boy shakily got to his feet and drew out a long black sword.

"Your fighting style still hasn't changed a bit," Thomas spat out, hatred burning in his amber eyes. "There no pattern or elegance to it at all. Everything's so irregular and you have zero respect for yer opponent. I hate the way you fight. I hate your attitude. I hate your _magic _but the thing that pisses me off the most, is how _yer not even trying_," Thomas hissed the last part; regarding her with a look one would normally regard a creature with no soul. "It's always been like this. Me training every day but still gettin' my ass pathetically whooped by you, who's not even breakin' a sweat. It was really frustrating at first but ya know what? I realised something: I would never beat you 'cause yer a monster. And I don't mean the kind we all are. I mean the kind who wouldn't even bat an eye before viciously killing everyone and everything standing in her path."

"Thomas, that enough." Surprisingly, it was Evangeline who called out. Thomas sent her an enraged glare and waved his katana wildly in Lucy's direction.

"Enough? Enough?! Do you know how long I've waited to kill her and see her suffer after everything she's done to me, to everyone, to Mistre-"

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!" the purple haired girl interrupted, shocking the boy into silence. She reappeared by his side in an instance and held a tight grip around his neck.

Thomas' eyes widened as he clawed at the hand wrapped around his neck and wheezed for breath. "Evan…geline…wha-what are you…" he choked out before his eyes rolled to the back of his neck and his body fell limp. There was a thud as Evangeline loosened her hold on Thomas and let him hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Lucy eyed the seemingly lifeless body. Evangeline, as if reading her thoughts spoke up, her voice cold and devoid of emotions. "He's not dead, just unconscious."

"Why?" Lucy asked. It was a simple question. A one that held no judgement, accusation, disbelief or shock but rather, raw curiosity. It was a need to know, nothing more and nothing less.

"Because I wanted this to be between the two of us," was Evangline's simple reply. "And Thomas was letting his anger control him too much. I know you Lucy and I know exactly how vicious and calculating you can be. You would have without doubt manipulated his anger and used it to your own advantage."

"You say that as if you're not angry, Evangeline-san."

"I am angry. I'm furious but I also know better than to let that cloud my rational judgement. I'm not even going to pretend that I can win against you in a fight, but…" Evangeline looked Lucy directly in the eyes during that pause. "…that doesn't mean I'm not going to try!"

The purple haired girl pulled out a long metal pole from her pocket dimension and used it to vault herself into the air where she was immediately joined by Lucy who aimed a punch at Evangline's chest. The fist was blocked by the pole. As soon as this happened, Lucy pulled back her right fist and punched with her left one which aimed low. Evangeline simply titled the pole angle to once again swat away the fist. Her right hand brought one end of the pole back behind her head and pushing down on her left hand; she swung her weapon down on Lucy's head. The blonde mage quickly stationed her opens palms above her head and caught the weapon. She pulled the pole as she had down with Thomas' weapon. Recognising what was being done, Evangeline quickly teleported back down, bringing Lucy who was still holding onto her weapon with her. The purple haired girl pushed the pole down and thrust it towards her opponent's stomach. Lucy, with a firm grip on the pole, swung her legs back and into the air so that she was balancing her whole weight on the pole in a hand stand. In less than a second, she used her arms as springs to push herself into the air and perform and half flip before landing back on her feet.

"What's wrong Lucy?" Evangeline taunted. "Aren't you going to use magic?"

"That would be an unfair advantage against you since you have no magic," Lucy replied back evenly, unfazed by the taunt.

Evangeline laughed mockingly. "Since when did you care about things like that?"

At this, Lucy smirked, remembering back to the days when she used to live in the Arkot castle and would exchange verbal insults with Evangline during their usual spars. This memory served to soften her smirk as she smiled and genuinely replied, "Since just now."

In her mild distraction, Lucy failed to notice the way Evangeline frowned, as if an inner conflict was taking place within her.


	11. X772

During their fight, Lucy kept her promise and did not use magic. This put her in a disadvantageous position since she had no weapon stored in her pocket dimension whereas Evangeline most likely had more than plenty but she refused to resort to magic. Evangeline punched and kicked, swung and jabbed, flipped and pulled but each strike was parried or avoided with precision. Lucy followed her movements carefully and retaliated in a controlled manner, never using too much force. This seemed to frustrate the purple haired girl to no end.

"I know you're still holding back! Come at me with your full strength Lucy! I'm giving it my all here so isn't it polite for you to do the same?" Evangeline shouted. "Or are you still looking down on me?!"

Lucy shifted her feet and tilted her head back to evade a punch and grabbed her opponent's wrist. Twisting the wrist and swivelling around, she elbowed Evangeline's face before smashing her arm against Evangeline's neck and sending the girl crashing into the ground. Looking down at Evangeline's bloody face, Lucy sighed and lifted herself off the girl. "I've never looked down on you, Evangeline-san. It's just…sometimes, I get afraid of the damage I can cause. I know that after everything I did, I have no right to say this but…I don't want to hurt you. I always considered you as a really close friend and that hasn't changed even now."

The purple haired girl clenched her teeth and slammed a battered fist into the ground next to her. Her expression showed anger, sadness and surprisingly, guilt and regret. Her blue eyes conveyed an ongoing inner conflict as well as hundreds of other emotions that Lucy could never even begin to guess.

"Fuck," Evangeline cursed, as she brought down her fist once again despite the fact that her hand was already bleeding badly. "Fuck! Damn you!" She stood up and ran towards Lucy at full speed. At this point, tears were streaming down her cheeks, mingling with the blood and dripping off from her chin. Lucy stood completely still and she watched with a sad smile as her old friend ran towards her while screaming obscenities. Even when Evangeline was mere inches before her, she made no move to block the fist coming towards her face at a blinding speed. Before she knew it, her face exploded with pain and she flew backwards and landed on the ground facing the sky. Evangeline teleported to straddle her and started raining punches on her face, her neck, her chest and anywhere else she could reach.

"Fuck you!" Evangeline screamed furiously. "You have no right to say that! You don't want me to hurt?! Well it's too late now! You killed the only person who I had loved and respected! Do you know the amount of devastation and frustration I felt when you brushed me aside as if I was a mere fly and ripped her heart out?!" Lucy felt hot tears landing on her cheek and then a harsh slap. "Open your eyes and look at me, you coward!" Evangeline snarled.

Lucy slowly opened her brown eyes and stared into angry blue ones. She had never seen her old friend cry before except for that one time when she had killed Evangeline's most treasured person but things had been too chaotic at the time for her to really _see _the desperate tears or the eyes filled with hurt and anger at Lucy's betrayal.

"I'm…sorry," Lucy offered weakly. She knew that saying sorry didn't solve anything and was meaningless in the face of things that really mattered but what else was she supposed to say? 'I wasn't in my right mind?' As if her not having had full control of her actions made everything so much better. What was worse was that it wasn't as if she wasn't _herself._ Because she was, just not a very admirable and sane part of herself.

"Don't," Evangeline snapped. Her voice trembled slightly. "Just…don't, okay? You don't get to say that. You don't get to play the victim here." There was a deep intake of breath as Evangeline ceased her volleys of punches and loosened her grip around Lucy's midsection.

"I…I always knew," Evangeline started quietly. Lucy stayed silent and let the older girl vent out her feelings that have been bottled up for a long time. "I knew that it wasn't fully your fault and that you weren't in your right mind. I knew that you were suffering as well from your master's death. I knew all of that but I refused to acknowledge it. All that mattered was the fact that you killed the person I loved the most and I hated you for that. Although I was hurt and angry at you, I was mostly angry at myself for not being able to protect her to the very last moment. I hated myself for being so helpless and doing nothing when she was dying right in front of my eyes. But I found it much easier to direct all that anger at you so when you disappeared, I channelled all that hatred into taking revenge. Thomas had been just as angry and resentful as me, if not more and he egged me on and it was much easier to just hate you because of what you had done instead of thinking about why you had done it and how you would have felt." Evangeline barked out a hollow laugh. "Fuck. I'm pathetic."

Lucy sighed and gave a self-deprecating smile. "Not as pathetic as me. I've been wallowing in my self-pity for years now and I'm pretty sick of it. I'm really want to move past all that but it's so damn hard. All these years, I've always thought about what kind of punishment I would be getting for simply being who I am and before I knew it, I was already becoming seventeen. I hated the fact that I was still alive but at the same time, I was relieved. Even though I know I don't deserve it, I still want to be happy. Is that so wrong? Is it so terrible that I'm surrounded by the people I love and constantly receiving their kindness? So what if I don't deserve it?! Fuck that." At this point, her voice was starting to rise but she didn't care. She needed to get this out somewhere. "I'm going to continue to be selfish and I'm fine with that. That's why, Evangeline-san…I want us to move past everything; if not for my sake, then for your sake as well. I'm not saying we should just forget about it because I don't think I will ever be able to do that but I think we should start accepting the past and move on. If we keep on living in the past, we'll never be able to move forward and that's something I want for us to do: move forward. I want to start properly living again and have fun with my friends without the past always coming back to haunt me." Lucy extended a hand in the air. "So, what do you say? I'm sure that's what Shisho and Hawkes-san would want for us as well."

Evangeline stared at the hand for a moment, seemingly deep in thought before clasping it gently with her own. "Yeah," she said softly, "I think I would like that." She pulled Lucy up. "But I still haven't forgiven you," she added with a glare.

"Of course. I wouldn't expect otherwise." They shared a comfortable silence. Although they were nowhere near as close as they used to be, Lucy was simply glad that they had finally come to terms with their past and put it behind them for good. She knew that there would always be a wall between the two of them as long as the past remained the same but she also knew it was a sacrifice she had to make. She was pretty sure that their relationship was beyond the point of healing but she was content to simply watch Evangeline move on. Nobody deserved to be plagued by their past forever.

"So, what now?" Evangeline asked over the gentle rustling of the tree leaves.

"How about you come back to Fairy Tail with me? I can introduce you to my friends," Lucy offered.

"And say what? 'Hey guys, this is the girl behind all this mess you went through. Feel free to knock the daylight out of her'?" the purple haired girl bit out with an eye roll.

"No of course not. I'm sure if I explain, they'll understand. Besides, I'm planning to finally tell them my full story and I want you to be there to listen as well. After everything we've been through, you deserve to know at least that much."

Evangeline paused and sighed, her expression softening slightly. "Okay. I'll answer all your questions there then."

With an unconscious Thomas slung over her shoulder, the purple haired girl joined Lucy in the middle of the clearing. The trees surrounding them were still tall and thick in size yet it felt nowhere near as intimidating as it first did. The swishing of its leaves was gentle and caressing instead of being ominous and the shadows seemed accepting rather than gloomy. Now that things were no longer as chaotic, Lucy was finally able to appreciate the beauty of the forest. She looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's go," Evangeline prompted. Lucy nodded and closed her eyes, picturing an image of Fairy Tail. The first image that came to mind was the guild hall in its full glory and as good as new but she quickly corrected her image with the run-down mass of debris that now stood in its place in the wake of the Phantoms' attack. When she opened her eyes, she was standing in the streets of Magnolia with Fairy Tail's now destroyed guild hall faintly outlined in the distance. She took a moment to take in the damaged state it was in and let out a small sigh. It was going to take a great amount of time and effort to rebuild the hall.

Evangeline, who was standing next to her, offered a sincere apology. "I'm really sorry about your guild, Lucy. When I hired Phantom Lord, I was still pretty much swept up in my own rage and the knowledge that you were so near kind of set me off to the deep end. I simply asked him to bring you to me and I honestly didn't know that the master had such a grudge against Fairy Tail."

"It's not all your fault, Evangeline-san. I did provoke their master quite a bit so it's partly my fault as well."

"I won't blame your friends if they take revenge on me for destroying their guild," Evangeline said resolutely.

Lucy laughed. "Don't worry; they're not that kind of people. They like to keep the past in the past and they don't judge people based on it. It's part of what I love about my guild although sometimes I do think they forgive a bit _too _easily."

The older girl looked on with a wistful face. "Looks like you've found your home Lucy," she commented softly.

Lucy smiled back. "Yes I have. Now, shall we go before they send out a search team for me?"

They walked at a leisure pace, adjusting their speed from time to time and slowly reacquainting themselves with each other. It had been a long time since they had last interacted; Lucy had been fourteen years old and Evangeline a year older. Now they were seventeen and eighteen respectively and a lot had changed for the two of them. Lucy was much more mature and level-headed compared to before although at the same time, she had developed a rather quick temper when it came to the safety of her friends and her coping mechanism had almost naturally turned to violence. As for the older girl, now that Lucy was able to take her time and observe Evangeline, she noticed some evident changes in the other girl. The most obvious were the physical features. The little bit of baby fat she had three years ago was now non-existent and she was taller by at least ten centimetres. Based on their fight from earlier, it was obvious that Evangeline had trained day and night and her skill in combat had increased more than Lucy imagined was possible. She also noticed that Evangeline seemed to think several steps ahead and plan her actions a lot more thoroughly than before.

Indeed, they had both changed both physically and mentally and their drift was punctuated in the unmistakable distance between the two of them as they walked as well as the certain amount of tension and awkwardness that hung around them.

Finally, the path gave way to a large clearing where the Fairy Tail's guild hall typically would have stood strong and proud if it weren't for its recent war against Phantom Lord. As they neared the ruins of the hall, a loud babble of banter and discussion could be heard along with the occasional barks of jolly laughter as the guild members celebrated their victory. Leading a hesitant Evangeline, Lucy stepped into the view of the crowd. Almost immediately, Makarov met her gaze and announced her presence.

"Lucy. You're back," he said. Everyone fell into silence and turned their attention onto the blonde mage. There were some confused faces at Evangeline's presence but otherwise, no one made a sound.

"Yeah master, I'm back," she replied. She then turned her gaze to the collapsed guild hall and sorrowfully added, "I'm so sorry about all of this. This is my fault."

Makarov smiled at her kindly and looked at her with an unmeasurable amount of love and forgiveness. It stirred something inside Lucy and if she hadn't vowed to herself that she would never shed a tear ever again, she would have broken down then and there.

"Don't worry, Lu-chan, the guild hall will be fixed in no time," a familiar voice said gently. Lucy turned around and smiled at Levy who seemed to be able to walk on her feet without much difficulty. Jet and Droy stood behind her and despite the fact that their arms were put on a cast, they were smiling as if they didn't have any care in the world.

"Levy-san…Jet-san and Droy-san. I'm really glad you're alright," Lucy said. "I'm sorry you got hurt because of me."

Levy smiled reassuringly. "Don't sweat it okay? Nobody here holds you responsible for anything. Right everyone?" she called out to the rest of the guild to which they replied with a loud affirmative noise.

"Lucy…" Makarov started. "Every time you laugh, every time you grieve…pieces of those moments become ours as well. When a member is on cloud nine, we float and when a member is outraged, we clench our teeth. When a member weeps, we all wipe our eyes. That's what it means to be a member of our guild. So you have no reason to take on all the guilt because nobody blames you… and why would they… you are, after all, a member of our family… a member of Fairy Tail."

"Seriously…" Lucy muttered weakly with a small smile. "That's the second time I've heard that speech…but it never gets old. Thanks master and everyone." She took a deep breath and faced everyone. "That's why I've decided… I want to share everything about me with everyone. My past, who I am… everything. I'll start off by introducing Evangeline-san."

Evangeline stepped forward and dumped Thomas onto the ground. She bowed formally with a stern facial expression. "It's good to meet you all. My name is Evangeline Hawkes. Firstly, I'd like to express my sincere apology for the damage and suffering I have caused your guild. I would say that it was not exactly intentional but I realise that saying that will not make anything better."

Makarov stepped forward and gestured for Evangeline to raise her head. "There is no use trying to decide where the blame lies. What has happened has happened and all we can do is move forward and learn from our experience. You are Lucy's old friend, you say?"

"I am. I come from another world called Arais and due to my past with Lucy, I have come to take revenge on her. However, we have come to an understanding and I no longer have any intentions to bring any harm to Lucy or her friends, although I doubt I can do anything against your magic."

"Were you come from, does it not have magic?" asked Makarov in surprise. Evangeline shook her head, causing many of the people from the crowd to gasp in shock. They could not imagine a world where magic did not exist.

Lucy stepped into the conversation. "How about we get comfortable somewhere and I explain everything from the top?"

Makarov nodded. "If you are willing to tell, then we are willing to listen. Everyone, take a seat!"

As soon as he finished talking, everyone sprang into action. They chatted amongst themselves as they each found a comfortable spot in the shade of the guild.

Ria flew straight into Lucy's face in relief. "Lucy! I was getting really worried about you back there! I'm glad you're safe." She glanced at Evangeline who regarded the small girl with a sense of familiarity. "I see you brought Evangeline with you as well."

"Hey. If I remember, your name is Ria, isn't it? You were the girl who I occasionally saw in Lucy's room back then."

All of a sudden, the blonde mage heard a sharp intake of breath from Evangeline. She turned and followed Evangeline's line of sight and she instantly realised the cause. Of course, how could she have forgotten? Mirajane Strauss looked almost like a carbon copy of Mirajane Hawkes, Evangeline's deceased patron.

"Mistress Hawkes…" Evangeline muttered in shock. Her eyes seemed unfocused and her arms were slowly reaching forward. As she took a step towards an unknowing Mirajane who was talking to Elfman, Lucy reached out a hand and grabbed the older girl's forearm.

"It's not the same person, Evangeline-san," Lucy reminded. This seemed to snap the girl out of her daze.

Evangeline blinked and screwed her eyes shut. "I'm…sorry. I got caught up in my memories. In any case, she really does look almost exactly the same, although now that I look at her closer, there are unmistakable differences."

"Yeah. I know how you feel. That's exactly how I reacted when I first saw Shisho but I quickly came to realise that she was not who I thought she was."

Evangeline swept her eyes over the crowd and stopped in her tracks when she spotted Erza in her usual Heart Kreuz armour. "I can see why you could have been shocked. This version of Arkot seems a lot more law-abiding," she commented.

Ria rolled her eyes. "That's one of the biggest understatement I've ever heard."

Lucy grinned wryly. "I agree that the difference between the two is quite drastic. And it's Erza Scarlet."

"I see. Even though you have described her to me countless of times in the past, I still can't get my head around this. Different worlds and alternative versions of everyone? It seemed crazy."

"It didn't take too much persuading to get me convinced. Though to be fair, I was only five years old and anything seemed possible at that time."

"I bet you were a smart five year old though," Ria added. Lucy shrugged and went to join her friends in the rough circle they were sitting in. Erza, Natsu and Gray sat together side by side whilst Mirajane, Elfman and Cana were close by. Team Shadow gear was next, sitting at the edge of the shaded area and next to them were Bisca and Alzack. Reedus made himself comfortable on a large slab of stone along with Wakaba and Macao. Warren sat in a clump with few other members and Makarov took a seat in front of the collapsed guild hall's door. Lucy sat down next to him with Ria perching on her left shoulder and Evangeline to her right.

"Right, so…where should I start?" Lucy asked hesitantly.

"The beginning would be nice!" Gray shouted, causing everyone in the circle to laugh.

Lucy grinned. "Right, the beginning. I guess I'll start with my mother's death because I feel that my previous explanation doesn't really cut it. But before I get onto that, there is something I need to reveal about myself. I'm a vampire. Sort of. And so is Evangeline-san."

There was a round of shocked gasps and hurried shouts of questions.

"As in the mythical, bloodsucking, undead creatures I've only read about in old fiction books?!" Levy shouted excitedly.

"Do your eyes turn red?"

"Are you immortal? What about garlic and holy water?"

"Is it true that vampires only suck the blood of virgin girls?!"

"Can I see your fang?!"

Lucy blinked. She had expected some surprise and confusion or maybe even disgust but not this endless rounds of questions that she wasn't even given time to answer.

"Um…" She tried, only to be interrupted by another question.

Finally, Erza stepped in once she had gotten over her initial surprise. "Quiet down, everyone. Lucy has promised to explain." Looking at Lucy, she said, "Can you explain what you mean by 'kind of'?"

"Yeah. So I don't know what books everyone has been reading but they're not entirely true. At least, it doesn't apply to the Vampire from Arais. The Arais Vampires are not the undead in the sense that their physical bodies are dead. Once they die and someone chooses to turn them into a vampire within three weeks of their death, they come back to life as their normal human self except that they do not age or die until someone physically kills them again. In their 'rebirth', they gain inhuman strength and speed as well as the ability to teleport. Some vampires even manage to learn how to distort space and create a pocket dimension for themselves. A side effect is that their eyes sting and hurt in the sunlight but the pain is not fatal and most get used to the feeling over time. Of course, they do drink blood but rather than it being a necessity to survive, it is a simple craving that some learn to control while others don't. As for me saying that I'm 'kind of' a vampire, it's because I was turned just seconds before I died, meaning that I still age normally but I gained all the qualities of a vampire. The same goes for Evangeline-san. As for the garlic and holy water, no they don't affect me in any way."

Lucy paused and looked around, making sure that the information was sinking in. She realised that she had probably just dumped a tonne of information on her friends but it was necessary if she was to tell her story without any interruptions.

"I…think I understand," Mirajane said slowly.

Natsu gave a frustrated shout, clutching his head in confusion. "I don't really get it but it sounds like Lucy has some awesome powers!"

Gray face-palmed. "You idiot. Is that all you got from her explanation? Although I can't argue with you that it does sound pretty cool."

"It's manly!" Elfman declared.

"It would be an advantage in a fight," Erza nodded.

"Aye! You can carry lots of fish at the same time!" Happy said.

"I need alcohol for this," Cana grumbled.

Lucy smiled at her friends' reactions. She really should know better than to think that they would reject her but it was something that she truly feared would happen. "So…you don't think I'm weird?" she asked.

Makarov sent her a knowing glance. "Nothing you reveal about yourself could change the fact that you're part of our family, Lucy. We will accept you no matter who you are and what you have done in the past."

Lucy released a small sigh of relief. She had needed to hear that. "Thanks master. I guess I'll start my story then."

000

_Twelve years ago. Year X772_

A recently turned five year old Lucy stared as the wooden box containing her mummy's body was slowly lowered into the pit. She was wearing a small black dress that Lizzy had gotten her to wear. She didn't know why she had to wear black and she didn't know why everyone else was wearing black but Lizzy had said it was partly because of tradition and partly to mourn for her mummy's death. Lizzy's voice had cracked then, and Lucy had seen the older girl hurriedly wiping away her tears with her back turned to her.

Around her, many people were crying and she knew it was because of her mummy's death. The adults- she had never even seen them before- clutched each other and sobbed and nobody was even listening to the farewell speech that the man at the front was giving. Lucy had even seen her father cry and that was something which had never happened before. He was the strongest in the world and nothing could make him cry, or so she had always thought. But she realised that mummy's death was really sad so he was allowed to cry but then why wasn't she crying? The man finished his speech and the box was properly buried in the ground. People came to stand in front of the statue of her mummy and cried even more. At this point, Lucy's father had left and she was standing in front of the statue by herself. The adults approached her and hugged her, even though she still didn't know who they were. They told her that they were 'sorry' but Lucy didn't understand. Why were they sorry? It wasn't as if mummy had died because of them. The staff came and hugged her too and she hugged back because they were crying really hard and she didn't like seeing them so sad. Strangely, when she did that, they started crying even harder.

"You're a strong girl, Lucy-chan, to not cry even when your mummy has died," someone had whispered.

That's not true, she had wanted to say. She was really sad and she already missed her mummy a lot but why wasn't she crying like everyone else?

But when everyone left and she was alone, she finally cried. Really, really hard. All her sadness, all her loneliness and all her fear - they all came flooding out as she sat on the grass and cried and cried. She was pretty sure she cried over an hour. No matter how much she called for her mummy, she didn't come to comfort her. And then five year old Lucy realised. Her mummy was gone.

She fell asleep on the grass next to her mummy's statue and eventually, Lizzy came to pick her up.

A month later and Lucy was still sad. She held the gold and silver keys mummy had given her before she died. Aquarius, Cancer, Loke, Horologium, Lyra, Taurus and Crux. Although she wanted to call for them like mummy always used to, she didn't know how.

Meanwhile, Lizzy read her exciting bedtime stories now that she could talk without her voice cracking in sadness and Lucy wasn't as lonely as before. She loved the stories of wizards and mages and dragons. She imagined herself as the princess helplessly locked in the tower waiting for her prince. She imagined her happily ever after with the dashing knight in shining armour who would always come to her rescue and defeat evil wizards and protect her. Sometimes, she imagined that her mummy was still alive and would attend her wedding with the prince and would visit them every day. And sometimes she wished that a mysterious witch would visit her home and turn back the time to when her mummy was healthy and happy and daddy was still smiling and giving Lucy piggybacks. Or sometimes, she would just cry in her bed at night because daddy was still at work like always and never really talked to her properly. She wished that she was the girl in the story with the loving parents and she wished she was girl who had her wish granted.

Soon, Lizzy started reading the same books because there weren't any more books to read.

And soon, Lucy was tired of imagining herself as the same princess and having the same old happily ever after again and again. She wanted something different.

So one day, she slipped into daddy's library when he was busy doing work in his study. She slipped in without telling anyone and she felt really bad but she desperately wanted new books to read. If only she could get a new book for Lizzy to read. But no matter how much she looked and searched, none of the books contained happy fair princesses or knights or mages or dragons. They had long words she couldn't read and no pictures at all. She had been in the library for a while now and she was worried that someone might come in or worse, daddy might come in. So she headed for the door but stopped when a silver glow entered her vision. She gasped and ran to the glowing book at the end of the shelf in the corner. This was it, she had thought. This was just like the stories where the main character would find something mysterious that could grant her a wish and she would wish for a happily ever after. Lucy would wish that her mummy was still alive and her daddy was still smiling.

But suddenly, an eerie female voice started whispering in her head. The voice echoed and filled her with a sense of fear from the very first syllable it uttered. _"Come, young child of Heartfilia. You are the chosen one. You will open this book that your ancestors were not worthy of opening. Hurry, I have waited centuries to fulfil the promise I have made to Kein Heartfilia. I recognise your power and I deem you worthy to fuse with me. Together, we will be the most powerful force in the world!" _The voice cackled and boomed towards the end and Lucy was definitely terrified now. This was not part of the stories she had read. The genie inside the book was supposed to be kind and gentle and cute, not scary with a voice resembling a wicked witch.

But Lucy moved forward towards the book, her body setting into motion without her command. Her hand reached out and plucked the book off its shelf and slowly opened it. A new wave of intense silver light burst out from the book and latched itself onto Lucy, surrounding her body tightly in a thick mist. The book dropped from her hands and Lucy herself dropped to the floor with a long, extended cry of pain. All she could see was silver, silver and silver and she was terrified out of her mind. Wasn't this the time for the Knight to burst in and defeat the evil silver witch? Wasn't this the time for her daddy to come rushing in and hug her and tell her that he loves her before she died? Wasn't this when her mommy's spirit came down and protected her?

But none of that happened and Lucy was left to feel the pain that seemed to rip her small body into shreds. She felt as if something was crawling inside her and clawing at her heart and holding it in a tight grip, squeezing, pulling and stretching. Every fibre of her body felt the pain and soon enough, the sweltering heat passed away and her body numbed. Her tears had dried and her eyes became glazed. The silver mist around her had significantly lessened and after a few more minutes of faint glowing, it slowly faded away. As Lucy's vision darkened, the last thing she heard was footsteps and Lizzy's panicked shout.

When she woke up, the first thing Lizzy did was to chide her for entering the library without supervision or permission. Lucy quickly told her what happened in the library and was instantly met with a sceptical look.

"I think your fever was making you imagine things, Lucy. There was no book on the floor and I don't see any silver on you right now," Lizzy had said. Looking down at her body, Lucy realised that Lizzy was right. But she didn't feel ill and the pain had felt too real for it to be her imagination. She was still scared but she didn't tell Lizzy because that would make her worry. "You should take a rest and drink lots of water. I have to clean three more rooms but I'll come back to check on you soon," Lizzy said before tucking her in and exiting the room.

As soon as the door closed, Lucy's body started glowing silver and seeing her hands emitting a silver glow, the small girl panicked and jumped out of her bed and rushed to the mirror where she confirmed that her whole body was surrounded by faint silver light. Fear started to rise up but before it could reach her brain and cause her to run after Lizzy, a wave of calm washed over her and Lucy was left simply staring at herself with curiosity.

"_Listen carefully child, can you hear me?" _the female voice said, her tone gentle and caressing.

"Who… who are you?" Lucy asked quietly, scared that the pain from earlier would come rushing back if she said anything wrong.

"_I am not anything you can even begin to comprehend, child. But I am now part of you and so is my power."_

Lucy stared at her reflection in the mirror. "Can I… can I call you 'Shari'?" Shari was the name of her favourite princess from her books who was able to get a prince to fall for her and save her poor family and live happily ever after.

The voice chuckled. _"You can call me anything you wish."_

"Can we be friends?" Lucy asked hesitantly. She had no friends because she was never really allowed to leave the mansion and she was always really lonely. Not even Lizzy could play with her all the time.

"_If that's what you desire." _

Lucy was pretty sure that desire was just a strong word for wish. So she nodded. "Yeah, that's what I de-zai-er" she struggled to pronounced the last word and this earned another chuckle from the voice who Lucy now named Shari.

"_It seems you really are too young. After centuries, I've forgotten the significance of age."_

"How old are you?" Lucy asked.

"_That, I don't remember. But rather than about my age, wouldn't you like to know more about my power? Well, it's your power now," _Shari said.

"Power…" Lucy muttered with her head tilted to the side. Then, her expression brightened and she bounced on her toes in excitement. "Ooh! You mean like those wizards and witches and mages in my books?!"

"_That's right. But you are much more powerful than any fictional characters. Although it is sad that you are too young to utilise that latent power to its full extent. But tell me, if you had the power, what would you do with it?"_

Lucy scrunched her nose in concentration as she thought about her answer. "Um… I would get my happily ever after and help everyone else get theirs as well!" Of course that's what she would do. That's what all the heroes and the main characters in the books did. Although, she was slightly confused because if she became the hero with the power, how can she be the princess at the same time?

Shari laughed. _"As I expected, I have chosen well. In that case, I will help you achieve your goals and develop you into the most formidable hero the world has ever seen."_

So basically, Shari was saying that she would help Lucy become a hero. At least, that's what Lucy thought it meant. There were lots of words she didn't know in that sentence so she just kind of guessed.

Regardless, Lucy beamed. "You will?! Thank you Shari. You're my best friend ever!" she exclaimed in glee. She had always wanted to say that phrase ever since she had read about other children saying it to each other in her books. She was happy that she had a friend. She won't be alone anymore.

A week had passed since the incident and everyday had been fun and joyful for Lucy. She no longer needed her books to forget her loneliness because she now had a friend who was constantly with her and always talked to her. During the week, Shari had taught her how to control a bit of the silver light and make it into small solid spheres she could play with. She was also taught to use the silver light to fetch things from far away by creating a magical claw-like device to pull the object towards her. Lucy was incredibly smart for a five year old and a fast learner so she caught onto the methods behind the tricks pretty quickly.

By the time the week came to an end, the smile never left Lucy's face and this changed shocked many of the staff working in the mansion although every one of them were happy that their young mistress was finally starting to move on and smile brightly once again. Realising that she hadn't seen her daddy in a month, Lucy decided to make him lunch since he was in the mansion in his study and so close to her. With the help of the kitchen staff and all the skill a five year old could pull off, she made some rice balls and lined them on a plate before loading the plate onto a tray.

She hopped to the study with high spirits, happy that she was going to see her daddy again after almost a month. In her distraction, she forgot to knock on the door and turned the handle. It opened with a small creak and Lucy peeked inside timidly.

"Daddy, I brought you lunch beca-" her voice died in her throat when she saw what was happening inside the study. Her daddy was sitting in his chair with his upper body slumped forward and his head rolling to the side. A small part of a thin blade was sticking out from his chest and blood dribbled from his mouth. Around his desk were shards of glass from the smashed window and paper was littered everywhere. The man standing behind daddy holding the sword cursed and pulled it out of daddy's chest. The tray slipped from her trembling hands and Lucy screamed.

She screamed in fear and confusion. Who was the man? Why was daddy not moving? She hadn't even said 'I love you' to him yet. She was supposed to have a happy ending. So why was this happening? What about the prince and the knight and the-

There was a rush of footsteps and four maids burst in with Lizzy at the front. Lucy felt slightly relieved that Lizzy was here. She would take care of the bad man and protect Lucy right? Lizzy was going to save daddy, she was sure of it.

With one look at the situation, Lizzy's eyes widened in horror and she threw up on the floor. Her eyes were filled with panic but even in her state of frenzy, she pushed Lucy behind her and stood in the way between Lucy and the man. "Lucy! Get away! Quick Lydia! Call for help!" she commanded. Her voice was strong and resolute despite the fact that she was trembling in fear.

The man cursed loudly once again and he jumped over the desk, knocking over daddy in the process. The man ran forward and stabbed Lizzy in the neck with his sword. He shoved the screaming Lucy aside and took down the three other maids, slashing and stabbing, drawing blood and gurgling and terrified screams.

Lucy's scream was the loudest of all. She crawled to Lizzy whose eyes were glazed and blood was spewing from her mouth. "Lizzy! Noooo!" she sobbed. She ignored Shari attempts to calm her down. She blocked out her friend's voice completely and focused on Lizzy. Lizzy, who was dead. Daddy, who was dead. Lydia, Karin and Maria. All dead. Dead, dead, dead. Like mommy. Dead. And they were never coming back to life again. Dead. Killed. Stabbed.

Dead.

When he was done, the man slammed the door shut and advanced towards Lucy who scrambled back with tears running down her cheeks and her eyes red from crying.

"All because of you, little brat. I could have silently gotten away but now you've caused more trouble for me. I'll end your pathetic existence now and silence your screams," he spat angrily.

Everyone was dead. Now Lucy was going to die too.

"_Child! Calm down. At this rate, your magic is going to go out of control!" _

Who was that talking to her now? Was this person going to die as well?

The man picked up his sword from the ground. Lucy stared, body frozen and petrified. Her voice wasn't working anymore. The doorknob rattled frantically and there were shouts of desperation from the other side. More people had come to save Lucy.

They were going to die too.

Where was the prince? Where was the knight? Where was the hero of justice?

The man raised his sword, the sharp steel edge glinting dangerously, coated with blood. Blood from daddy. Blood from Lizzy.

They were all dead. Killed. And nobody had come to save any of them.

And Lucy finally realised as the man brought down his sword.

There really was no such thing as a hero of justice.

With this last thought on her mind, silver light burst out from her body and filled the room as she slipped into unconsciousness.

There was no such thing as a hero of justice who would swoop in and save the day. And it had taken Lucy the death of everyone she loved for her to finally come to her senses.


	12. Lucy

**It seems that Lucy's past arc will take up more chapters than I first expected. Oh well, I'm pretty sure that's not a bad thing. Plus, I'd rather not just half-ass Lucy's past and not go into detail on the important parts.**

**A little note before we start. It may seem that I'm going to write about every day of Lucy's past but I'm not. I'm only going to go into detail on the key moments from her past so you should expects some time skips. Also, one more thing is that what I write in her past arc isn't necessarily what Lucy is saying in real life to her friends. If you don't understand, think of it like this: I'm going to describe how Lucy felt in detail and the thoughts going through her head. She's just going to describe what happened and that'll be it.  
**

**So that's cleared. Please enjoy reading!**

* * *

_The man was pulling his sword out of her daddy and daddy fell to the floor with a lifeless 'thump'. Lucy stared in horror, lips trembling and eyes welling with tears. He was leaving her again but this time, it was permanent. This time, she knew deep down, it was impossible for him to come back. _

"Daddy… No…don't leave me…" Lucy whimpered, tears falling from her closed eyes as she tossed and turned.

"Shhh… honey, daddy's here. He's not going to leave you." It was a gentle voice, rich and soothing, full of love and compassion. It sounded a lot like her mummy and it helped to calm Lucy down.

_But the man was approaching Lizzy now, his eyes filled with anger and his sword raised, ready to strike. One more step and he would be close enough to drive through Lizzy's throat. Before Lucy could even blink, Lizzy's head fell back, lifeless and her eyes were glossed. As her body landed on the floor, those soulless eyes stared straight into Lucy's. It stared and it stared. _

_Lucy screamed. _

"NOOOO!" she shot up into a sitting position, sweat and tears all over her face. A sudden wave of dizziness hit her and she swayed, falling back into the bed.

Lucy continued to cry. Over daddy, over Lizzy. "No…please …" she choked out. She could taste her own salty tears. Something soft and warm covered her right hand and she jerked in fear and surprise.

"Shhh…honey, calm down. Mummy and daddy are here for you okay?" said the same voice from earlier.

Her world completely stopped as she registered what was being said. Mummy and daddy were here? Next to her? But that was impossible because they were both dead.

Dead, because of Lucy.

There was no way that they could be here. But where was she?

Dead.

That's right. It had to be a dream. Her wishful thinking, her imagination.

Both of them were dead.

Or maybe Lucy was dead as well as this was her happy ending in afterlife where daddy was smiling again because mummy was next to him.

"M-mummy?" Lucy stuttered, her voice small and scratchy from all the screaming she did. She stared at the bigger hand placed over her own and raised her eyes. She gasped when she saw that it was indeed her mummy sitting next to her staring at Lucy with a concerned gaze.

"That's right honey. I'm here and daddy's here too. You don't have to be afraid anymore Lucy-chan," Mummy replied back, her blonde hair almost shimmering in the sunlight streaming through the window.

Lucy stared at mummy's gentle smile and breathed in the familiar scent that felt like home. Not home as in her great big mansion but home as in where she belonged. She tore her eyes away from her mummy and stared at daddy who was sitting next to her. His face looked older and had much more wrinkles than Lucy remembered him having but at the same time, he looked the happiest she'd ever seen him. It was not anything like the tired smile or the stern business face she'd seen on him before. No, he was truly happy and content.

Before she realised what was happening, she had burst into another round of tears. But this time, she wasn't crying because of fear and sadness. She was crying because daddy and mommy were both alive and happy. She was crying because they were happy with each other, happy with life and happy with her and that's everything she had wished for: for the three of them to be a real loving family. She soon found herself wrapped in the warm embrace of her parents. She latched onto them, never wanting to let go and she basked in the warmth she had missed so much.

"Shh…Lucy-chan. Get some sleep and once you feel better, you can tell mummy and daddy about your scary dream okay?" daddy said, gently lowering Lucy back onto the mattress and pulling the duvet over her small body.

Lucy silently nodded, afraid that she would start crying again if she opened her mouth. She watched as her parents left the room, closing the old wooden door after them softly. Looking around the room curiously, she immediately realised that wherever she was, she wasn't at the Heartfilia mansion. Instead of the floor being made of shiny marble, it was made of sturdy looking rocks, with the walls being pretty much the same. She could tell that the furniture was not of extreme high quality as the bed she was lying on gave a little squeak every time she shifted even the slightest bit. But even more than the appearance, it was the atmosphere of the room that made Lucy certain that she was not in the mansion. Everything here felt so cosy and just… _right. _It was a hard feeling to describe and put into words, especially for a five year old, smart as she may be.

So what was she doing here? In fact, what were her parents, who were supposed to be _dead _doing here? She wanted to say that she was simply dreaming but she knew deep down in her gut that that wasn't the case. While most five year olds in her situation would accept everything and be content, Lucy wasn't one of them. Even though she was ecstatic that her parents were there, alive and healthy, she just couldn't shake off the feeling that everything was just so _wrong. _As if her very existence in this world was wrong.

"_I see you are finally awake, child."_

Lucy nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise. She had almost forgotten about Shari.

"Shari… where…where am I?" she asked in a small voice. The answer seemed obvious: she was in someone's house but something compelled Lucy to ask.

Shari gave a somewhat amused hum. _"I see you've caught on already. You really are sharp. Are you sure you're only five years old?" _

Lucy nodded, confused at the question. Of course she was. She knew her own age. "Yeah, but where am I? I don't feel like I'm at home. What happened? Is this a dream? Was daddy really killed by the man?" she asked, quickly firing one question after another without pausing for breath.

"_Slow down child. Let me answer one question at a time. First of all, this is most certainly not a dream. The fact that I can talk to you right now proves that. As for where you are…well that's where things get really interesting. Although I have a 0.01 percent chance of being wrong, if my theory is correct, we are in a different world."_

"A different world…?" Lucy repeated with wide eyes. "I don't really get it…"

"_A different world. Different reality, different dimension. Basically, you are not in Earthland anymore," _Shari explained.

And somehow, Lucy understood. It was a concept so difficult to grasp yet an explanation so easy to understand, so easy to accept. Somehow, everything made more sense. It explained why her supposedly dead parents were no longer dead. It explained why they were living in an old house and why they seemed so different. It explained why everything seemed so wrong.

"But…how?" she asked.

"_You fell unconscious while this happened so you probably don't remember but just as the sword was about to pierce you, I temporarily took control of your magic and attempted to create a protective shield around you. However, your emotions were all over the place and I couldn't control how much magic I put into the shield and therefore ended up using an overwhelming amount. The force of the power caused a small crack in the space-time fabric, which you fell through. The next thing I knew, you were lying unconscious in front of this house and your parents came rushing out and took you inside. Things took an interesting turn, I must say. When I fused with you, I never expected anything like this to happen," _Shari finished off with a small laugh.

Lucy only understood a little of what was said but she stored it away to the back of her mind.

"So…" she started hesitantly. "So my parents just now, they're not my real parents?" It broke her fragile heart in simply uttering that sentence.

"_They are essentially still your parents. Just not your parents from Earthland." _

Yes, because her parents from Earthland were dead.

"Wha-what do I do now?" Lucy asked, suddenly feeling very scared and insecure. She was in a different, unfamiliar world with no one but the voice in her head to go to. At that moment, lying in the bed and thinking about the bleak future made her feel incredibly lonely. What would she do really? Pretend that nothing was wrong and live in this world and forget about her past? But that would mean that her whole life would be filled with lies. Her very existence would be a lie.

"_I suggest you go along with everything for a while until we find out more about this world. Then, we can come up with a plan and see if we can somehow go back to your world," _Shari replied calmly, without a pause and without any wavering. Lucy admired and envied Shari's confidence. All she was feeling at the moment was fear and more fear. And hopelessness. She felt so lost. Even if she were to go back to Earthland, what would she do without her parents? Where would she live? What was she going to do with the rest of her life? She didn't know and the unknown, dark future did nothing but bring more fear in her.

"_Child, calm down. There is no need to fear. I will always be here to help you until you grow old enough to fend for yourself. I am still not too clear on the maturity level of a five year old but I can see that you're intellect and perceptiveness far exceed what is expected of your age group. I suspect that you will have to mature faster than other children your age. Just try and adjust to the changes as best as you can and you'll soon figure out what to do."_

Lucy nodded and forced the tears back determinedly. Shari was right. She would have to try her best to adapt to the changes and figure out a plan. There was no point wailing and sobbing about it. With a new-found determination, she slid out from beneath her duvet and got out of bed. She put her shoes on and padded softly to the door. She opened it and walked down the wooden stairs until she reached a bigger room with a couch and a dining table and chairs. Her parents, who were sitting on the couch and seemingly in a discussion, snapped their head up when they heard her walking into the room hesitantly.

"What's wrong honey?" mummy asked gently with a reassuring smile. Lucy relaxed at the familiar gesture and ventured further into the room. When she reached the couch, her daddy pulled her in to sit her between him and mummy and he wrapped a protective arm around her petite shoulders.

"No-nothing… I just wanted to see you," Lucy answered shyly, ducking her head.

Daddy gave her shoulders a small squeeze. "Do you want to talk about your scary dream, Lucy-chan?" he asked.

Lucy shook her head. "It's nothing. I'm not scared anymore 'cause mummy and daddy are here now."

"That's good to hear. Now, what shall we eat for dinner?" mummy asked brightly, getting up from the couch and approaching the kitchen.

Daddy pulled out various fun board games and opened them up to play with Lucy. She won a lot of the games, probably because daddy let her win on purpose but she always lost in the chess games because daddy was too proud of his skills in chess to even let his daughter win. And as mummy walked in with the dinner and daddy sprang from the couch to set the table, Lucy thought to herself that she could definitely get used to this.

000

She easily settled into a daily routine. Her day would begin with an early wakeup call from daddy and a delicious breakfast from mummy. Then, she would get changed and go to the local school in the area since her parents didn't have enough money to afford a private tutor. Lucy was fine with that though because the school was really fun and had a HUGE library filled with books. It turned out she didn't have much friends at her school and nobody really talked to her but she was fine with that. She was used to being by herself so rather than moping about it, she took advantage of her spare time by practically living in the school library and reading books on this new world called Earth. She also read about magic and guilds and how people with magic helped people who couldn't use magic. It sounded all so wonderful and Lucy wondered what it would be like to join a guild.

Since her daddy and mummy from this world couldn't use magic, Lucy had to practice hers in secret. Sometimes, she would bring out the keys her real mummy had given her and try to summon a spirit but she never succeeded.

She continued to read books, visiting the local library outside of school most weekends and focused on her learning. Her classmates would call her a freak, a loner and other hurtful names but Lucy never told her parents about it since that would make them worry. There were days when she would feel like she was alone in this world and in those days, Lucy practically buried herself with magic theory books to drown out the loneliness. It worked most of the time.

A year seemed to pass in the blink of an eye and Lucy had already turned six. By this time, she had almost forgotten that she wasn't really from this world and that her parents weren't really her real parents. But a month after her sixth birthday, a single comment from her daddy had caused her comfortable world to come crashing around her and she had gotten a harsh reality check. It was a Thursday and she had once again brought back a test paper with full marks and her parents had been extremely happy and proud of her and had hugged her fiercely. Lucy had been grinning widely, proud of herself and happy that her parents were so proud of her too.

Daddy had ruffled her hair and had fondly said, "You've grown so much without us knowing Lucy-chan. Look at you and how smart you are. I've always known that you would become someone great ever since you uttered your first word as a baby."

And mummy had added, "We're so proud of you honey. You've always been our precious only child and it will stay that way forever. Don't forget that, Lucy-chan."

It was like a slap to the face.

The Lucy Heartfilia they thought her to be wasn't actually her.

The Lucy Heartfilia they loved so much and would do anything for wasn't _her_.

She was lying to her parents, to these people who had looked after her with unconditional love for the past year; to these people who had never once made her doubt their love for Lucy.

She was pretending to be someone she wasn't and the realisation made her feel sick.

An immeasurable amount of guilt settled within her.

For the following week, every display of affection her parents showed her made her avert her eyes; every loving embrace they wrapped her in made her want to cry and every single second spent with them was a reminder that everything was a lie.

It wasn't long before the guilt became too much and she decided to reveal the truth. She gathered her parents on the couch and explained everything to them: about how she came from another world and how her real parents were long dead.

"Lucy-chan," Layla Heartfilia started with an understanding gaze. "We both knew that you weren't our real daughter from the start."

Lucy stared at them with wide disbelieving eyes. She asked why they had pretended nothing was wrong if that had been the case.

Jude Heartfilia smiled sadly. "Lucy-chan… _our _Lucy-chan died when she was three years old from an unknown illness and it broke our heart. She meant the world to us and ever since she died, we were thrown into despair. But a year ago, we found you lying unconscious in front of our door and when we took you in, we were shocked to see the strong resemblance between you and our daughter. You kept calling out for your mum and dad while you were asleep and we just… we thought that maybe, this was our second chance."

"We foolishly hoped that this was some kind of miracle. I'm sorry if we weren't fair on you, Lucy-chan," Layla finished, reaching out and giving Lucy's hands a small squeeze.

"I… I'm sorry too, for not saying anything. I just- I just wanted to be happy with my parents again," Lucy choked, tears freely falling down her cheeks. She was immediately pulled into a warm hug by both Jude and Layla as she sobbed.

"You can… you can still stay with us if you'd like. We still consider you as our daughter Lucy-chan, even if you are not the same as the Lucy-chan we knew as a baby," Layla offered, once Lucy's cries had quietened down.

Lucy wanted to say yes. She wanted to cling to her parents and beg them to stay and continue to love her like before. But she knew that doing so wouldn't be fair. It wouldn't be fair on both Jude and Layla but most importantly, it wouldn't be fair to her. So even though she wanted to desperately stay, she knew that this wasn't where she belonged.

She pulled away and shook her head. "No… I don't think I should stay here." She offered no further explanation because no words would do her feelings justice. Her reason wasn't something she could convey with her words, it was an intuition, a gut- feeling and it didn't make any sense to her.

"If that's what you want Lucy-chan, we won't stop you. But stay here with us for one more week and we'll send you off with clothes and food."

"Okay, mommy, daddy," she said and Jude and Layla both smiled.

She cherished her last week with her parents who seemed to put extra effort into spending time with Lucy and making her feel welcomed and loved. During the last week, they had sat her down and announced that they were going to try and give birth to another child. Lucy had beamed at the great news, happy that they were starting to move on from their first daughter's death. Towards the end of the week, Jude bought Lucy a large rucksack and with Layla's help, the three of them packed various clothing and food for Lucy's journey. When it was time for her to finally leave, they gathered in front of the house early in the morning and with one last final hug, Jude and Layla sent her off with tears in their eyes and a promise that she was welcome to come back anytime. Lucy too, sadly waved goodbye and ventured in the direction of the nearby town Oshibana.

"_What's your plan now?" _Shari asked.

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know. I'll explore the town and then I'll book a room at an inn and leave my stuff there, I think."

Lucy wandered around the town aimlessly, drifting from one place to another and simply taking everything in. She could tell that she was getting weird looks from some people and paid them no mind. She supposed a six year old walking around town alone with a huge rucksack isn't an everyday sight here in Oshibana. When evening came, she found an inn on the outskirt of the town and near her parents' house. She entered and approached the front desk where a middle-aged woman was sitting and reading a book.

"Um…excuse me," Lucy called out. The woman looked up and put her book away to the side.

"Hello little one, what are you doing here? Are you lost?" the woman asked.

"No, I was wondering if there was a room free," Lucy asked, pulling out a bag of jewels Layla had kindly packed for her.

The woman looked at her sceptically. "Aren't you a little too young to be renting a room by yourself?"

"I'm six years old," Lucy defended with a huff.

The woman chuckled, as if amused by Lucy's actions. She raised her hands in a surrendering manner. "Alright, alright. One room for one night?" Lucy nodded and handed the woman her bag of jewels.

The woman stared at the bag and then promptly burst out laughing. "You don't need that much jewels to pay for one night." She took the bag, opened it and picked out only a small amount. "There. I'll give you a little discount for being the first customer tonight. That, and for providing a little bit of entertainment around here."

She handed Lucy a silver key. "Your room is on the second floor. Have a nice stay," she said with a smile. Lucy took the key as well as her bag of jewels and with a grateful bow, headed upstairs to her room. It was small and had the bare necessities: a bed and a small coffee table but it was more than enough.

She dropped her rucksack onto the coffee table and pulled out a copy of the Sorcerer Magazine she had bought from a shop nearby during the day. She dropped onto her bed and began to read. Even though she didn't have a solid plan yet, she knew that she wanted to join a guild. That's why she had bought a Sorcerer Magazine since they provided information on many famous guilds and she could get a vague idea of what being in a guild is like.

The front cover was a picture of a guild called Blue Pegasus. At the foreground of the photo was a chubby man wearing dark pink dress and a pair of white wings. At first, Lucy couldn't really tell if the person was a man or a woman but she eventually went with the man option. She opened up the magazine and started reading. There were various interviews with different guild members and Lucy could tell that they all enjoyed being part of a guild, from the way they responded. Must be nice, she thought. Helping out people and being with people you can trust and rely on.

"Fairy…Tail…?" she mumbled, squinting at the writing. There was a small picture of the guild members, all huddled together and grinning. _They seem like nice people, _Lucy thought with a smile. She read the article and smiled at how obviously excited the writer was as he talked about the 'awesome' members and their skills. Towards the end, the writer dubbed Fairy Tail as the 'strongest magic guild in all of Fiore'.

She turned to the next page and when she saw what was on it, she immediately snapped it shut with a blush. On the next page had been a full A4 sized gravure picture with a brunette wearing a revealing bikini and sitting in a suggestive pose. Although the woman was really pretty, Lucy's innocent eyes just weren't ready for those kinds of images.

Lucy placed her magazine back onto the coffee table and climbed into her bed. She stared at the ceiling as she contemplated her choices.

There was no way she could just wander around forever. She needed to settle down somewhere. Maybe she really should join a guild. But how do you even go about joining a guild in the first place? Do you have to take a test to see if you're qualified to join? But Lucy wasn't terribly good at her magic so she doubted that she would pass if that was the case. Besides, which guild would she join? Blue Pegasus? Lamia Scale? Phantom Lord? Fairy tail?

She had no idea. At this point, she doubted her decision to be independent. Maybe she should have just took Layla and Jude's offer and stayed at their house. She would be better off if she had stayed. She wouldn't have to worry about a place to sleep, things to do and food to eat. She was six years old for gods' sake. What can a six year old do by herself? No one would take her seriously.

Lucy sighed, tears of frustration threatening to fall. Maybe she really should have stayed.

And with that final thought, she drifted asleep.

000

The next morning, Lucy woke up early and headed downstairs. The weather outside was good and she figured she could take a little walk to clear her mind. Just as she reached the last step, she heard hushed voiced of two women gossiping. One of them, Lucy recognised, was the woman behind the desk from yesterday. She quietly made her way into the space and, her curiosity getting the better of her, sat down at a nearby table to listen in.

"Did you hear about the awful news?" a woman holding a large basket asked the woman behind the desk.

"What news?"

"On my way here, I've heard people say that the nearby village had been attacked by a group of vicious bandits last night. They ransacked all the houses, stole all belongings and killed many of the residents."

"My! How horrendous! And to think that it happened so nearby. It's a blessing that they didn't reach my inn."

But Lucy wasn't listening anymore. She sat frozen in her chair. The nearby village. Vicious bandits. Killed many of the residents. These words kept on repeating itself in her head. She connected the dots and her eyes widened.

No. It couldn't be. There was no way. Right?

No. It was impossible.

No!

She shakily got to her feet and ran out of the front door, ignoring the shout of greeting from the woman behind the desk.

There was absolutely no way.

It must be just some baseless rumour. There were lots of villages nearby. _That's a lie._

She had to check. She just had to check.

It was impossible.

She ran blindly. She wasn't even certain which direction she was heading and her brain was fuzzy. She just ran and ran where her feet took her. Her lungs burned and her legs ached but she continued to run until she reached her destination.

Her legs gave out beneath her and her knees hit the hard ground. Her wide eyes took in the situation.

Houses burnt everywhere. People shivering in thin blankets and shaking and crying. Children clutching their parents, some alone and crying. There were lots of men in uniform bustling around. She frantically searched the area with her eyes, desperately hoping to find what she was looking for. Eventually, one of the men in uniform approached her.

"Hello little girl, my name is Mark. Are you looking for something?" he asked.

She opened her mouth. The first time, her throat constricted and she couldn't say anything. She swallowed thickly and tried once again. "Is there… is there anyone with the surname Heartfilia who survived?"

Please. Please say yes. Please please please.

The man scratched his head. "Hmm…not sure about the names. We won't know until we do more interviews with the people around here. Though they're not really in a state to answer any questions right now. Are you looking for your parents?"

Lucy nodded numbly. Her vision swam and her eyes burned.

Just then, another voiced called out to Mark. "Oi! We've found two more corpses beneath a pile of debris! Tried to see if they still had a chance but it was no good. They died a long time ago."

Lucy froze. She tried to stop herself from shaking so much. Please don't let it be them. Please don't let it be them.

Mark sighed as he stood up and faced the other man. "Did you find out their names?"

"Urr…yeah. Lemme see…" he mumbled, shifting through a messy bunch of papers. "Ah! Here it is. Turned out they were quite popular around here so it was easy to get their names. Layla and Jude Heartfilia, wife and husband."

Lucy choked on her breath. No. It couldn't be. Why was it them?! Why?! She abruptly stood up and ran away. She couldn't take it anymore. Just the sight of the ruined houses and the devastated people was killing her on the inside. But hearing that her parents were dead? There was no way she could stay there and listen to two men talk about them with pity. This was the second time dammit!

What were the men doing _while _the bandits were attacking? If they had been there earlier, her parents might not be dead.

It tore her apart to think of how excited they had been when they told her that they were thinking of having another baby. They had been so kind and caring towards Lucy. They didn't deserve such a meaningless death. Why had it been them of all people? Why couldn't they have survived?

The world really was a cruel place.

She continued to run until she reached the inn. She was sure that her face was marred with tears and she probably looked like a ghost but she didn't care. Before the woman behind the desk could even call out to her, she scrambled up the stairs and shut herself in her room. As soon as the door was closed, she slumped to the floor and bawled. She punched the wall repeatedly until her hands were bruised and blood was trickling down from her knuckles. She screamed and cried until she was too exhausted to continue.

If she had stayed at the house for one more night, would she have died too?

Probably.

But she couldn't bring herself to be relieved about that at all. Not when the cost of her survival had been the death of the only people who had loved her.

Dammit! If only someone had been strong enough to defeat the bandits. If only there had been someone to stop the attacks.

She could have been that someone. But she was too weak. What could a mere six year old do? If she had faced the bandits, she would have died in less than a second.

If only she was strong enough to protect the people she cared about.

From the corner of her eyes, she caught sight of the Sorcerer Magazine lying on the coffee table.

A guild. That's right. She would join a guild and become strong. Strong enough to defeat bandits. Strong enough to help other people and prevent more innocent people from dying. To do that, she would join a guild. But which guild?

Then, she remembered.

'Strongest magic guild in all of Fiore…'

Lucy wiped away her tears and got to her feet. She would join a guild.

She would join Fairy Tail.


	13. Lucy's past part 3

**Yaay! Long chapter! I'm sorry if this is too depressing. Once this is over, I'll write some humour chapters to calm your minds. Hope you enjoy this chapter too and thanks for everyone's support.**

* * *

"And so I made a resolve to join the strongest guild in Fiore to become strong enough to protect the people around me," Lucy finished, her eyes distant as she reminisced old memories. She was snapped out of her state by a loud sniffle.

"That's so sad Lucy!" Levy cried. In fact, many other members of the guild were in a similar state, including the master.

Lucy blinked at their reactions and then smiled softly. "It's okay, I've already come to terms with my past and moved on. I usually focus on the happy memories I had with my parents rather than the sad ones," she explained.

"Damn…you really went through hard times," Gray commented with a comforting gaze. Lucy appreciated the gesture.

"But you have us as your family now so you don't have to be sad anymore!" Natsu said with his usual optimism. Happy declared a loud 'Aye!' Lucy beamed and nodded, completely agreeing with the Fire Dragon Slayer. She did have Fairy Tail for her family now and she treasured every moment spent with her friends.

Erza nodded in approval. "Indeed. You can make new memories with us. We'll always be here as your friends."

"Thanks everyone," Lucy said with a smiled. She really was lucky to have such supportive friends.

"I see… So you lost your parents at a young age as well. But at least you've found a place you could belong to Lucy," Evangeline said from next to her. Lucy stared at the purple haired girl with an understanding look. Evangeline had lost her parents on her eighth birthday when a serial killer on the loose had killed them on their way back to their house after a family dinner celebrating her birthday. The killer had stabbed Evangeline as well and she had been on the brink of death but Mirajane Hawkes had saved her by sucking the blood of the serial killer and then turning Evangeline into a vampire after asking her for permission. The girl had agreed because she was terrified of dying and wanted to live. Mirajane had taken Evangeline under her wing and the purple haired girl had been loyal to her ever since. When Lucy had first heard this, she had been surprised to find that Evangeline was just like her: a human with vampire qualities. But once she had gotten over her surprise, she found herself relating to the girl much better.

"Yeah… I'm sure you will find your place soon as well, Evangeline-san," Lucy said with a reassuring smile.

Evangeline inspected Lucy's face for a minute before sighing and facing away. "Maybe."

It was a short answer but it was enough to let Lucy know that Evangeline appreciated the encouragement. Looking around the circle, she realised that she had been silent for a while. She quickly shook away any distracting thoughts and began to continue with her story.

"So I gathered my belongings and quickly ran out of the inn and headed for the nearest train station…"

000

_Twelve years ago. Year X772_

"Next stop, Magnolia station. Next stop, Magnolia station. Please mind the gap between the door and the platform edge."

Lucy jolted awake, the arm supporting her head slipped away and her head crashed into the window.

"Ow," she muttered, rubbing the side of her head furiously. She blinked several times to adjust to the sunlight streaming through the window and waited for her brain to catch up. Once she was fully awake, she shouldered her rucksack and prepared to get off the train.

"_This is a nice city," _Shari commented as she walked out of the train station and onto the streets. Lucy agreed. Although there were a lot of people milling about, coming in and out of the shops, the atmosphere didn't seem busy or rushed at all. It felt like everyone was aware of each other and moved together, like a one big community. If Lucy had to describe it in one word, it would be 'homely'. She stood on her tip toes and peered around, stretching her neck as far as she could to see over the huddle of adults standing around her. If her information was correct, Fairy Tail should be in Magnolia but she had no idea where _in _Magnolia it would be. She had hoped it would be easy to spot once she was in the city but no. After ten more minutes of looking, Lucy finally came to the conclusion that the people around here would know since Fairy Tail was a famous guild. There was an open café across the street from where she was standing and a young couple was sitting together at a table. Both the man and the woman looked pleasant and seemed like they wouldn't mind helping someone find their way.

She walked to their table and started a little awkwardly. "Hello."

They simultaneously turned to face her with an easy-going smile and Lucy immediately relaxed. "Hello, how can we help you?" the man asked cheerfully.

"Um… I'm looking for a guild called Fairy Tail and I heard that it's here in Magnolia. But I don't know where it is inside the city so do you know, Mr?" she asked.

The man scratched his cheek sheepishly and shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. But Rena here might know since she's a big fan of that guild," he said, gesturing towards the woman.

Rena beamed. "Of course. You have to walk a bit until you get there but just follow the main street and keep going. Turn right when you reach cathedral and then walk forward. Then you'll reach it."

Lucy nodded, mentally repeating the directions inside her head again and again. "Thank you. I think I remember the way," she said, as she began to walk away after a small bow of appreciation. If there was one thing that Lizzy and mommy had drilled into her brain repeatedly ever since she began to understand speech was the importance of manners. How to greet people properly, how to thank them, how to be respectful and using proper language. Heck, even the way she addressed people were apparently really important. She remembered what Lizzy had said: 'Always make sure that you add '–san' at the end of people's names because that's how you show respect.' She hadn't really practiced doing that since she didn't really talk to people outside of family and family didn't need things like 'san' at the end of their names. And Shari was a voice in her head so it didn't count.

She followed the woman's (Rena, the man had called her) direction and soon found that she could see a large building in the distance, sticking out like a sore thumb between two residential houses. She stopped in front of the building and took in the sight of the guild hall.

The building had three levels with the biggest level being the ground level. Each level had a red tiled roof attached it and at the very top was a golden globe with a pointed tip. At the highest level was the Fairy Tail's insignia, printed white on an orange flag and waving proudly in the air. The door she stood in front of was shaped like a leaf and hanging above her was a sign that read 'FAIRY TAIL', as if all the other signs weren't obvious enough that they had to carve their name in a huge font onto a piece of wood and had to place it right in the middle for everyone to see and admire. But seeing the awe-inspiring sign and the proud Fairy Tail guild hall made all the doubts she had been repressing so far come flooding back.

What if she wasn't good enough to join? What if she didn't fit in? What if she was so weak that they had to kick her out? What if everyone ended up hating her?

The fear of any of those things happening was very real. This would be her first time interacting with people outside of her family for an extended period of time and she had no idea how to fit in or make friends. So in fact, Lucy was terrified.

But then, her mind flashed back to the burnt down village and the smell of rotting corpse. She remembered the children, so lost and terrified that they had lost their parents. She remembered the utter devastation she had felt when she had heard that Layla and Jude Heartfilia were no longer in this world. In fact, the feeling was still fresh, slowly tearing her apart from the inside. And along with the images, she reminded herself of the confusion, anger, frustration and helplessness she had felt. She reminded herself of the determination she had felt and the desire to stop people from going through what she had experienced.

So she shook away the doubts and the hesitations and took a deep breath. And with trembling arms and anticipation, she pushed open the door…

…only to come face to face with a beer glass that was rapidly flying towards her.

Her instincts took over and she ducked just in time for the glass to soar harmlessly over her head and shatter into pieces somewhere on the ground behind her. Lucy stared at the shattered glass with wide eyes and a rapidly beating heart. She didn't even want to imagine what would have happened if she hadn't ducked in time. She probably would have been knocked out with a bloody and bruised face. Not exactly a good first impression.

With her heart still running a mile per second, she turned to face the rest of the guild who were now staring at her with curious eyes.

"Hello there, what business do you have in our guild little girl?" a man with brown hair asked. He had a smoking pipe held between his lips and seemed to have an easy-going attitude.

Lucy's eyes widened and she blushed, realising that she had been standing silently at the entrance for few minutes by now. "I-I want-" she stopped mid-sentence when she noticed that she was shouting rather loudly and unnecessarily. Her blush deepened in embarrassment. "I would like to join your guild…please," she finished quietly.

Inside her mind, Shari chuckled in amusement. "_Your lack of social skill is showing child."_

As much as Lucy was annoyed by that comment, she couldn't exactly deny it. It was true that she was socially inept but that wasn't her fault. Mostly. In her distraction, she hadn't even noticed a small old man approaching her. She jumped slightly when his voice suddenly sounded so near her.

"Of course, you're welcomed to join our guild! I would never turn away a new family member," the old man said.

"F-family?" Lucy stuttered.

The old man smiled kindly. "That's right. Once you join Fairy Tail, you become part of our family. Your joy will be our joy and your pain will be felt by us as well. Everyone supports each other and no one will feel lonely or left out. That's what it means to be part of our guild!"

Lucy stared. Family. Would she be so lucky as to be given a third chance? Looking around the room and seeing all the friendly smiles, she didn't doubt that she would be accepted and welcomed. She had no doubt that she would come to love being part of this guild. She had chosen Fairy Tail because of its reputation as the strongest guild but now… now Lucy was hopeful that she could be truly happy in this place.

"I am the guild's master, Makarov Dreyar. What's your name child?" the old man asked.

"Lucy Heartfilia," she replied.

He led her further inside the guild hall and pulled out a magical stamp. "Where would you like to have the mark and in what colour do you want it to be?" he asked.

Lucy thought for a second. Somewhere that could be seen clearly, she thought. So that she could see it all the time and be reminded that she was part of a big warm family. So that everyone else can see it too. Obviously, the colour would be silver because that was her favourite colour. Not that she was biased or anything.

After a few more seconds, she finally decided. She extended her right arm and gestured to the back of her hand. "I would like it here in silver please." If was on the back of her right hand, she would be able to see it all the time, especially since it was her dominant hand. Makarov pressed the stamp to the back of her hand and Lucy watched with awe as a silver Fairy Tail mark appeared. For some strange reason, even though she had just joined… even though she hadn't even accomplished anything, she felt proud from simply looking at the mark.

"Thank you," she breathed, still staring at the mark.

Makarov smiled and hopped onto a nearby table. He grabbed a beer glass, filled it with the beverage and raised it high in the air. "Everyone! A new member has joined today! Raise your glass and let's celebrate!" he shouted and took a swig from his glass. Everyone cheered, raising their own glass and gulping down it content. The hall was quickly filled with loud laughter and shouts and calls. The atmosphere was festive and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. All in all, Lucy quite liked the jolly and easy-going atmosphere of the guild.

Although, she probably should approach some people and talk to them if she wanted to make any friends at all. But she was afraid that she would be ignored and even if she wasn't, she was afraid that she would clam up and create a bad impression.

Just then, a girl along with two boys approached Lucy. One of the boys had spiky pink hair and he wore a red shirt, brown trousers and a checkered black and white scarf that reminded her of reptile scales. The other boy had dark blue hair and for some reason, he was topless. They were both being dragged by the girl who had the prettiest red hair Lucy had ever seen tied into a neat braid. She wore light armour on top of her shirt and wore a white skirt with a small sword strapped to her waist.

"Stop dragging me," the pink haired boy whined. He was immediately silenced when the girl sent him a death stare.

"You're both going to apologize for earlier," Lucy heard the girl say with a stern voice. Earlier? What had happened earlier? She was pulled out of her thoughts when the trio finally reached her.

The girl smiled at her kindly. "My name is Erza Scarlet. Welcome to Fairy Tail, I'm sure you'll get used to here in no time. If you need anything, you're welcome to come to me and I'll do anything in my power to help. But first, these two have something to say to you," the red haired girl said, nudging the two boys forward.

The boys fidgeted until the one with blue hair spoke. "Hey, my name's Gray Fullbuster. I'm sorry about what happened earlier. You know, with the beer glass that nearly hit you in the face."

"Yeah, sorry. It was all Gray's fault. Ice princess here was being all annoying and started the fight. I'm Natsu Dragneel by the way," the pink haired boy called Natsu added. This earned a glare from Gray.

"What did you just say, flame head? It was your fault, you punched me first!"

"Did not! If I did, I would have wiped you out with that single punch, freeze face!"

"You wanna fight squinty eyes?!"

"Bring it on droopy eyes!"

Lucy gasped as Natsu's fist was engulfed with flickering flames and Gray's was encased with ice. She had never seen other people perform magic other than her mummy's spirit summoning magic. It was fascinating to see different varieties of magic. She could tell from the boys' insults and their little display that Natsu was a fire mage and Gray was an ice mage. Something clicked in her head. Fire and ice. Was that why they seemed to be on such bad terms? She giggled at the thought.

Before either of the boys could launch an attack, Erza stepped forward, grabbed both of their heads and bashed them together, causing them to groan and cease their attacks.

"That's enough! Stop fighting in front of Lucy!" Erza said. The boys wilted and obeyed. Lucy gazed at Erza with admiration. She must be really strong if the boys, who seemed so hot-headed, were willing to listen to her so easily.

Seeing that the mood was slightly tense, Lucy quickly jumped in with a question. "What kind of magic do you use?" she asked. She was genuinely curious.

Natsu immediately brightened. "I use fire magic but I'm not just any old mage! I'm a Dragon Slayer!"

"Dragon Slayer?" Lucy asked in confusion. She had never read any books about Dragon Slayers before.

"Yup! I was raised by a dragon called Igneel. He was a fire dragon and he taught me the magic that would allow me to slay dragons!" Natsu explained with a happy smile. It was kind of cute, how excited he was to talk about this particular topic. Lucy found it a little ironic that a dragon would teach a human to slay their own kind but she didn't mention it since that would break Natsu's little bubble.

Still though, it sounded pretty amazing. "Wow! That's awesome! You must be really strong then!" Lucy said, causing Natsu to grin and nod. She turned to Gray.

"What about you, Fullbuster-san?"

Gray frowned. "Fullbuster-san? Why are you calling me that? It sounds so weird. Just call me Gray. That's what everyone else calls me. In fact, just call everyone else by their first names too. We're family so we don't need to be so formal."

Lucy blushed, embarrassed that her formal way of addressing people had been pointed out. But still, Lizzy had always said she needed to be polite and it was kind of hard to break away from the mind-set. Still, she tried to follow Gray's instruction. "Um…Okay. G-Gray…san."

"I suppose that's good enough," Gray shrugged. "But yeah. I use ice magic. It's a type of moulding magic where I can create anything using ice with my imagination."

Lucy nodded. She had read about moulding magic before. She turned to Erza. "Scarle- um, Erza-san, what type of magic do you use?"

"I use requipping magic. Specifically speaking, The Knight. It allows me to swap my weapon, armour and clothes at will," Erza said. She stared at Lucy for a while. "What magic do you use?" she asked.

Lucy flushed. She didn't really know the answer herself. She practiced the things Shari taught her but she wasn't sure how to explain the concept of her magic, since she herself didn't really know. "Um… I, uh, I do practice a type of magic to do with the colour silver but I don't know how to explain it. I'm sorry. I have celestial keys that my mom has given me and I would like to learn how to summon the spirits with the keys. Again, I'm sorry that I can't explain my magic." Lucy said apologetically.

Erza patted her on the back. "It's okay, it's not a big deal. About the celestial magic though, I'm sure if you ask master, he'll teach you the basics."

Lucy nodded. "Okay, I'll go and ask him sometime soon. Thank you."

Erza smiled and not for the first time, Lucy found her to be really pretty. She kind of admired how mature and level-headed the other girl was. Smart as she may be, Lucy was nowhere near as composed and reliable as the other girl seemed to be. She got the feeling that Erza wasn't the type to break down so easily like Lucy. Lucy knew for a fact that she was a cry-baby and she broke down easily under pressure. But now that she joined Fairy Tail, she hoped that she would able to change that part about her.

This was her new start. This was her chance to redeem herself. And even though she had only spent a maximum of ten minutes in the guild, she was already certain that Fairy Tail was the perfect place for her.

000

A month later and Lucy had gotten to know a lot of the people in the guild. She was pretty close with Levy McGarden since they both shared a deep love for books. They would recommend books to each other and talk about it after, comparing their favourite characters and quoting their favourite lines from the book. Lucy found Levy to be a really pleasant person to be around and she always seemed to wear and cheerful smile. She was also really clever, able to solve really hard problems and her hobby seemed to be decoding ancient messages.

Next was Cana Alberona who was generally a nice girl although she did seem to get irritated quite easily. She liked to tell other people's fortunes and especially liked telling Lucy's for some strange reason. When asked, Cana simply replied, 'It's because you're an interesting character'. Whatever that meant. Despite her mischievous moments and her habit of snapping at people from time to time, Cana seemed to genuinely care about everyone else in Fairy Tail.

Then there were the Strauss siblings, the newest addition to Fairy Tail. They joined around three weeks after Lucy, seemingly lost and having nowhere else to go. They had been welcomed immediately and although the oldest girl didn't seem to have magic, she too had been accepted. Mirajane Strauss was gentle and kind in nature and immediately took on the motherly role with all the other kids. She always greeted Lucy with a warm smile and Lucy could never help but smile back in the same manner. Elfman Strauss was the second oldest (one year older than Lucy) and he seemed interested in Beast Soul take-over magic. His build was large for a boy his age but his attitude was more like his older sister: gentle and kind. Lastly, there was Lisanna Strauss who leaned towards Animal soul take-over. She had a mostly cheerful attitude and was willing to help around as much as she could. She seemed to have grown quite close to Natsu and it was amusing to see the two of them always hanging around each other.

Laki was always willing to talk to Lucy and she was the one who introduced manga and comic to Lucy. And Lucy had introduced the fun of reading novels to the girl who immediately became hooked. Her, Lucy and Levy would often form a circle around a table and go into heated discussions. This initially raised a few eyebrows but everyone soon got used to it, like they got used to Natsu and Gray's constant fighting.

Erza was true to her word and always looked out for Lucy and always seemed to have time to listen to her worries and help her out. It was really reassuring to know that there was someone she could go to when she felt troubled. Because of this, having Erza around had really helped Lucy in settling down and making other friends and she was forever grateful towards the other girl.

In terms of her magic, Lucy had approached the master a few days after joining Fairy Tail and had asked him to teach her Celestial Spirit magic. He had replied that since he wasn't a Celestial mage, he wasn't too familiar with the mechanics behind summoning. But he had gotten Levy to find a detailed book about it and he had supervised her attempts at summoning with her keys, guiding her through every step of the way. A week later, Lucy had finally managed to summon her first spirit who happened to be Aquarius. The spirit had clicked her tongue in annoyance and had called Lucy names but Lucy didn't care. She was so happy she had finally summoned one of her friends that she had lunged forward and hugged Aquarius fiercely, much to the spirit's immense displeasure. At first, Lucy could only summon one spirit per day and only for twenty minutes. So she had to wait for a while to meet all her friends. Other than Aquarius, all of her spirits had been receptive of her and Loke had immediately taken on the role of a big brother. He treated her like a little sister and fussed over her and was overprotective but otherwise, he had been really nice. She could tell that he was a bit of a flirt though. Sometimes, he would even use his own power to stay materialised just to go on dates. Lucy didn't mind as long as he was happy doing what he did. Plus, Loke always brought back little presents for Lucy every time he came back from a date so that was good.

She would still get nightmares about her parents from time to time but her friends at the guild never failed to cheer her up the next morning.

So a month had passed just like that and by that time, Lucy had already embedded herself into the Fairy Tail family. Ever since her first ever spirit summoning, she continued to practice every day and improved herself. Although she could still only summon one spirit per day, the amount of time she could sustain them was far longer, reaching an hour at least. And it was by this point that Lucy decided. It was time for her to finally take a job. She knew that it wasn't compulsory to take a job to be part of Fairy Tail, it was still the main reason Lucy had joined in the first place. She had joined to help other people and get stronger from the experiences and then help even more people. So not taking a job seemed like a silly idea. So she walked to the request board, selected a job and went to the master to get approval.

"Master, can I take this job?" Lucy asked, holding out the request sheet. Makarov opened an eye and scanned the paper.

He hummed in approval. "Of course you can. But since this is your first job, it would be a good idea to take some else with you just in case."

Lucy nodded and walked away. Who would she take though? Gray seemed nice and all but she wasn't sure she would be able to work well with him from the get go. Natsu was too hot-headed and would charge into the problem without thinking. Cana didn't really seem to enjoy going on jobs. The Strauss siblings had recently joined so they were pretty much on the same boat as her when it came to experience. Then, the answer came. It should have been obvious and Lucy almost laughed at herself for not realising sooner. Erza. The older girl was hard working, happy to help Lucy and seemed pretty strong as well as mature and level-headed. In other words, she was the perfect person to accompany Lucy to her first job. She looked around the hall and immediately spotted Erza having a friendly chat with Mirajane. She quickly walked over to the pair.

"Erza-san, could I ask to help me with something?" Lucy asked. Then, as an afterthought, she turned to the white haired girl and added, "Good morning, Mirajane-san."

Mirajane beamed and replied back in a similar fashion before excusing herself and slipping away. Lucy mentally blessed the girl for her tact.

"Of course. What is it?" Erza replied to Lucy question.

"Um… I asked master whether I could go on this job and he said I could as long as I bring someone else along since this will be my first job," Lucy said, handing Erza the request sheet. "So I was wondering if you could come with me," she finished.

"I see," Erza said as she peered at the sheet. "Exterminating monsters?" she asked, looking up.

Lucy nodded. "Yes. The job is said to be quite easy so I chose that one."

"That makes sense. You shouldn't push yourself on your first job," Erza nodded in approval of Lucy's choice. "And yes, I will be happy to come with you on this job."

Inside, Lucy jumped up and down and squealed for joy. Outside, she remained calm and collected. But still, she couldn't suppress the ear-splitting grin that took over her face. "Thank you Erza-san," she said.

"No problem. Shall go now?"

"Yes. We should quickly catch the next train. Hopefully we will be back before the sun sets," Lucy said.

Erza nodded in agreement. "Then what are we waiting for?" she said as she got up and started walking towards the door. Lucy quickly followed. They walked to the train station and took the train to Hargeon. There, they headed to the beach and walked north until they reached the nearby forest where the monsters were said to be on the request sheet. Lucy surveyed her surroundings. The trees in this particular forest weren't that tall so the shadows they created were not big enough to create an ambush spot. There was plenty of sunlight, though it wasn't to the point of being hot and the air felt slightly humid.

"Do you see anything?" Erza asked. She had her sword drawn and her eyes were alert.

Lucy took one more look around before answering. "No, I don't see any monsters," she answered. And they hadn't seen any for the past half an hour and they were supposed to take down seven. She was actually starting to doubt that there even was any in the first place.

As if sensing her doubt, Erza said, "Don't let your guard down. It's important to be patient at all times."

Lucy immediately straightened her back in shame and sharpened her senses. Erza was completely right, as always. It was then that she heard a faint rustling sound from behind. She stopped walking which caused Erza to do the same and look at Lucy with questioning eyes. Lucy raised her finger and closed her eyes. She had definitely heard something.

Her eyes snapped open. There it was again. This, time, the noise came from Erza's side. It was apparent that the other girl had heard it as well, judging from the guarded stance she took.

It came without a warning. Lucy barely had time to shout a warning before Erza was taking a swipe at the monster. It was a large boar-like creature with thick looking skin and a large pair of horns attached to its head. Currently, Erza's sword was grinding against those very horns. Slowly, the creature was pushed back with a powerful push from Erza's side. She jumped back and charged forward, ducking low and aiming for the underside of the monster's neck where the skin was less thick. Erza slashed at the monster's leg, causing it to rear up and expose its neck to the requip mage. She took this opportunity and brought out another sword and slashed both simultaneously at the monster's neck. The monsters roared and kicked forward with both is front legs both it was no use. The cut had been fatal and it quickly dropped to the ground, dead. Erza quickly ran to Lucy's side.

"Be careful, there's still more out there," she warned. And she was correct. Eventually, six more of the monsters emerged from all around them, trapping them in a circle. Erza wasted no time and immediately sprang into action, running towards the ones on her side.

Lucy quickly snapped out of her daze and brought out Taurus's key. Since she could only summon one spirit per day, she needed to be wise when summoning. And right now, Taurus's big axe and strength could come extremely handy. She quickly chanted the spell whilst holding the key and rolled out of the way as one of the creatures charged towards her. The monster quickly shifted its positioning and started stomping its way towards Lucy once more. But before it could reach her, Taurus appeared and swung his axe powerfully at the monster. It flew back and tumbled a few meters away. Lucy sighed in relief.

She quickly got to her feet. "Taurus, aim for the underside of their neck! That's their weak point!" she instructed, just as the monster picked itself up. The other monsters stomped their feet in agitation and snorted, preparing to attack Lucy.

"Got it! Mooo!" he yelled. He sped towards the monsters that were stampeding towards the blond mage in a big group. He body-crashed into one of them to momentarily immobilise it while he dealt with the other two. He stepped on the tail of one monster and swung his axe up from the ground. The blade met the soft skin of its neck and almost tore the head off completely. As another monster charged, Taurus swivelled out of the way and sent a powerful kick to the monster's side. It tumbled onto its back and the spirit quickly pounced and swung his axe down to chop off the head. The third monster was dealt with in a similar manner and Lucy almost threw up the content of her breakfast at the sight of the gruesome heads rolling around on the forest soil.

Her face turned a faint shade of green and she turned her back to the corpses. "Thank you Taurus. You can go back now," she said, after confirming that Erza had took down the other three monsters.

"Moo! Anytime, Lucy-san!" he said as he disappeared.

"I'm done over here! That's seven in total isn't it?" Erza called.

Lucy was about to shout back a confirmation when a loud familiar snort echoed throughout the area and another monster ran out of a large patch of grass towards Lucy. Her eyes widened and her body froze up in shock. The request sheet had said that there were only seven monsters in total so why was there another one?! She couldn't summon Taurus again. The monster was nearing Lucy by the minute and she could only stand there paralysed and stare as her impending doom came nearer and nearer.

"_Use your power child!" _Shari urged from her brain but it was no use. Lucy didn't see how her power could be used to slay the monster. After all, she could only create small objects at this stage and even if she did create a sword, she wouldn't know how to use it.

"Lucy!" It was Erza. The girl had started running towards her ever since the monster had made itself known. She placed herself between Lucy and the monster and pointed the tip of her blade up. The monster pounced and Erza quickly ran her sword through its neck from beneath and then immediately pulled out. The monster writhed in pain for a few seconds before becoming still.

"Lucy, are you hurt?" Erza asked worriedly.

Lucy tried to smile, she really did, but it came out more like a grimace. "I'm fine," she said quietly. She tried to suppress the tremor in her voice but from the concerned look Erza was giving her, she had failed. She stared at the lifeless body of the monster. If Erza hadn't stepped in, Lucy would have probably died. Only a minute ago, the threat of death had been very real and it shook the young blonde mage to her core. Her heart had been pounding her in ears and her brain had halted to a stop. She body had gone completely frozen and she had just stared helplessly at the monster as it charged towards her. She felt ashamed that she had not considered the possibility of another monster. She felt pathetic at her own weakness. If she was so weak and useless in battle… if she was so easily scared, how was she supposed to complete future jobs?! If she couldn't even save herself, how was she supposed to save and help other people? She had thought that she was ready, that she was strong enough. But she was wrong. She was far from ready and she was nowhere near the definition of strong.

"Lucy, you should never let down your guard like that. You don't know when an enemy might attack. And it is important to always keep in mind that there may be errors in the information. When that turns out to be true, it is our job to keep calm and adapt to the situation. There are some things we just can't plan for and you need to learn to always be ready for anything," Erza lectured as they made their way out of the forest. Then, she smiled. "But for your first job, you did well. We can celebrate your success when we get back to the guild."

Lucy didn't think that she deserved to be praised at all. Erza had done more than half of the work while she had been basically useless. Now that everything was over and the fear and panic had subsided, she felt frustrated that she had been powerless to even protect herself.

"Yeah, I look forward to it," she said and the smile she put on as she said this was strained.

Erza looked at her with a soft, understanding gaze. "I know that you're beating yourself for what happened earlier. But don't be too hard on yourself. Even the most experienced warriors can make mistakes so no one will look down on you and criticize you. What's important is that you learn from those mistakes and come out as a stronger person. So don't be disheartened by one unfortunate mistake, Lucy. Just train hard and you won't make the same one again."

Lucy stared into Erza's dark brown eyes with admiration. She saw so much wisdom and kindness in those eyes that it took her breath away. She almost cried right then and there but they were on a train now so it would be embarrassing to cause a scene. Blinking back her tears, Lucy mutely nodded and offered a watery smile. She would train. She would train every single day and every single waking moment and prove to Erza that she could be so much more. She would show Erza that her advice hadn't been wasted and she would become strong and dependable, just like the requip mage. It won't be easy and it will take a long time. She will probably be tempted to give up a lot of times but when that temptation comes, Lucy would think of Erza and her encouraging words. She would think of her deceased mother and her murdered father in Earthland. She would think of Layla and Jude Heartfilia who had died a meaningless death at the hands of some bandits. And finally, she would think of Fairy Tail and her friends who always greeted her with a smile every morning and made her feel welcomed. She would think of all these things and she wouldn't give up, no matter what.

"Thank you, Erza-san. I will always keep that in mind," Lucy said as the train came to a stop at Magnolia station.

Getting up from her seat, Erza grinned. "That's good to hear. And I'm glad I was able to cheer you up. We can't have the main star of the party feeling gloomy can we?" She stepped off the train.

Lucy hurriedly followed. "Wait, you were serious about the party?!"

Erza laughed. "Of course I was. We don't joke about parties in Fairy Tail. We take it very seriously."

Lucy groaned. God, that was going to be embarrassing. And knowing Fairy Tail, they would jump at the chance to have a party and bring out the drinks and food as soon as the word is mentioned, whether there is a valid reason or not. But still, Lucy supposed that was one of the reasons why she loved Fairy Tail so much.

000

_Year X780_

Seven years passed and Lucy became thirteen. During those years, a lot had happened. She had befriended a tiny Elfling girl called Ria and had brought her back to Fairy Tail when she was eight years old. Not soon after, Natsu had barged into the guild hall holding a giant egg and a male flying cat, who was soon named Happy, had hatched from it. This was also the year in which Erza Scarlet had passed the S-class promotion trial and was dubbed Fairy Tail's youngest S-class mage. Skip forward two years and Lucy had also officially become an S-class mage. In this very year, X777, Lucy found a young five year old girl named Wendy during her first S-class job. The girl had been crying beneath a tree in a forest, all alone with nowhere to go and Lucy had seen a kindred spirit in Wendy. So she had warmly smiled at the girl and had offered her a home: Fairy Tail. A few months later, Wendy had also brought back a giant egg from which a female flying cat was hatched. She was fondly named Charle.

And as much as Fairy Tail and its members had been changing bit by bit as the years passed, Lucy had changed the most. She had taken aboard Erza's advice and had started training every day. She trained during the day; she trained during her spare time and she even sometimes trained during the night. She trained her strength, her stamina, her speed, her agility, her Celestial Spirit summoning magic as well as her silver magic. She read as much books as she could from Fairy Tail's archive to stock up her knowledge. She endlessly asked Erza to teach her how to use swords and she constantly badgered Laxus to teach her how to fight. Laxus refused on most occasions but sometimes, he would be too tired to fend her off and just went along with it with a scowl. And each day, she continued to hone her skills until she literally could not function properly anymore.

And it had been like that for the first few months after her first mission and everyone had been worried sick about her. Lucy had always waved off their concerns with a cheerful smile and had reassured them that she was perfectly fine. In fact, she hadn't even realised how much she had been overworking herself until she had dropped to the floor unconscious with fatigue. Her friends had been furious with her and had literally slapped some sense into her. It had been an eye-opening experience and she realised just how much she had been neglecting spending time with her family. From then on, although she still continued to practise summoning spirits and using her magic and physical combat, she also allowed herself to take a break from time to time and simply have fun with her friends.

Along the way, she had also discovered something important about herself. By the time she was nearly twelve and a half, she had discovered two big things. A) She was a Lesbian and B) She had a HUUUGE crush on Erza Scarlet.

It had all started with an offhanded comment from Aquarius during a job. After making sure that the enemy was near-drowning, the spirit had announced that she would no longer be available for three weeks.

"Don't call me again for the next three weeks," Aquarius had said with a tone that left no room for any arguments. "Because I'll be going on a vacation with my boyfriend. Which is something a brat such as you will never have," the spirit had said before vanishing back to the Spirit World.

And Lucy had taken the comment with a grain of salt, already used to the ways of Aquarius. But then, Ria had casually said one day, "You know, I notice that you stare at girls a lot more than you stare at boys."

"And? Is there something you're trying to say Ria?" Lucy had snapped back defensively. But her mind was already whirling into life, her brain working furiously as she analysed Ria's casual comment to its every letter. It was then that Aquarius' jab came to Lucy's mind and she really got thinking. She admitted that it was true, what Ria had said about her staring more at girls than boys. But that was only because girls were a lot prettier than boys and Lucy liked to appreciate beauty as much as the next person. And even though Aquarius had said that Lucy would never get a boyfriend just to insult her, she wasn't entirely wrong with her statement because just the thought of dating a boy made her shudder for all the wrong reasons. Not because she hated boys or anything like that but more because it just felt _wrong _and just… no. On the other hand, she had no problem imagining herself kissing with other girls. In fact, having just hit puberty, Lucy often found herself fantasizing about such things, only to snap herself out of it with a furious blush. And it was then that Lucy finally admitted to herself that she might actually be a lesbian. Well, she might not be but the possibility was high. She mostly kept this revelation to herself as she wasn't one hundred percent sure about her sexuality and decided that if she still felt the same for the next year or so, she would come out to the rest of her friends.

And as for her crush on Erza, did she even need an explanation? As much as Lucy had grown over the years, so had Erza and the blonde mage couldn't help but notice how much of a woman the other girl had become. Erza no longer had her hair in a braid and instead, let it fall down her back which really emphasised the silky quality it had. Sometimes, Lucy just wanted to reach over and run her hands through it to see how smooth it felt but each time, she held herself back to prevent from coming off as a creep. But really, even if it weren't for Erza's stunning beauty, there were still other qualities about her that Lucy really liked and admired. Firstly, there was her kindness. She had helped Lucy countless of times during her time in Fairy Tail, whether it was important things like accommodation or trivial things like shopping for food. Whenever Lucy had needed her help, she been there for her. Erza was like Lucy's foundation, always supporting her with an endless amount of patience and Lucy would never have gotten to where she was if it hadn't been for the other girl. Lucy loved how dedicated Erza was to Fairy Tail and how much she treasured her friends. Lucy loved how strong Erza was, always standing tall and taking charge when everyone else was in a state of panic. Lucy loved talking to Erza and hearing her voice. She loved how insightful the older girl was and how she thought about things that other teenagers typically did not. Lucy's heart would always fill with pride and joy whenever she was praised by Erza and feel utterly ashamed of herself when scolded by her.

All these things combined, it hit her one day that she might just be in love with Erza. At first, Lucy denied the possibility. After all, what did a thirteen year old know about being in love? What if her feelings were just a misplaced form of intense admiration? But then she realised that if that was the case, her heart probably wouldn't beat so wildly and flutter so giddily every time the other girl was near and her mind probably wouldn't be so occupied with thoughts of them going out on dates, holding hands and even sometimes kissing. So in the end, Lucy came to the conclusion that if she wasn't in love with Erza, she at least had a huge crush on her.

When Lucy realised this, she made extra efforts to hide her affections but it only made things even more obvious. In fact, it became so obvious that even _Wendy-_Innocent, pure, young, eight years old, forever-Lucy's-younger-sister WENDY- had taken notice.

"Lucy-nee-chan, you must _really_ like Erza-san huh?" Wendy had asked with an innocent smile during one evening.

Lucy, who was in the process of drinking a cup of water, nearly did a spit take. In her surprise and shock, the water went down the wrong pipe which caused her to start coughing and hacking loudly. She didn't see Wendy's look of worry and she barely heard Charle chiding Wendy for her 'lack of delicacy'. Ria just giggled, amused by Wendy's seemingly innocent observation, amused at Lucy's reaction and just amused at the situation in general.

Looking back on it, Lucy had probably read too much into Wendy's innocent question and over-reacted. She doubted that Wendy had even meant it in _that _way. But still, it had been a testimony of how obvious Lucy was being with her probably-not-so-secret feelings for Erza to the point where she started suspecting that even Erza herself knew or at least suspected by now. In fact, Lucy noticed that the requip mage had started avoiding eye-contact recently and they had barely gone on any jobs alone together. At first, Lucy hadn't been too bothered and she had simply chalked it up to Erza not feeling too well. But after a while, Lucy started to notice that Erza would avoid spending time alone with her more and more. That's when she started suspecting that Erza knew of Lucy's feelings towards her and was avoiding her on purpose. The thought saddened the blonde mage a great deal and the more she thought about it, the more her heart ached with rejection. She wanted to talk to Erza alone about the matter but she found it hard to bring up the subject and every time an opportunity to pull the other girl aside arose, she always chickened out at the last minute, afraid of what she might hear if they did indeed talk it out.

She constantly shared these worries with Ria since she knew her best friend would listen and would never tell anyone else. But after listening to Lucy for over two weeks, Ria started getting frustrated with the blonde and urged her strongly to just come out and confess to Erza. The silver haired girl pushed and urged Lucy every day until the blonde mage finally gathered up enough courage to ask Erza for some time alone to talk, away from everyone else. Erza had agreed somewhat restlessly and generally acted extremely unlike her usual confident and patient self.

They both secretly slipped out of the guild hall while everyone else was busy throwing a party and celebrating for no reason in particular. They walked in silence until they were in a secluded spot within an abandoned alleyway.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about, Lucy?" Erza started. Her expression was nonchalant and casual but her eyes were filled with a sort of nervousness that Lucy had never seen in Erza before.

Lucy fidgeted nervously. "Erza-san! I uh… I'm… I have something that I would like to tell you." She sucked in a deep breath to calm herself. It was now or never. She raised her head to look confidently into Erza's eyes and opened her mouth to say the three words she had wanted to say for a while. But she immediately faltered when she saw the look in the other girl's eyes. The beautiful brown eyes were filled with guilt and regret. They shone with sadness but it wasn't sadness for herself. No, it was sadness for Lucy. Her heart sank in disappointment as she realised what was going on. Erza knew what Lucy was going to say and she was going to reject her. It didn't take a genius to realise the meaning behind Erza's conflicted expression. She was trying to figure out the nicest way to reject Lucy's confession. Lucy's throat constricted and her eyes stung with unshed tears. Her lips suddenly felt dry and her heart felt like it was shattering to a million pieces. She quickly blinked back the tears before Erza could see it.

"I want to say that…" Lucy continued, when she realised that she had stayed silent for a while. She quickly racked her brain to find a plausible excuse for bringing out the other girl. There was no way Lucy was going to confess now that she knew that Erza was going to reject her. If just the thought of it hurt so much and made her want to tear her heart out, hearing it would just destroy her. Also, she was afraid that being rejected would make things awkward between them and even get in the way of their friendship. "I want to say that I'm going to go on a long term mission very soon! It'll take more than a month and since it's the first long term job I'll be completing, I didn't want you to worry about me when I'm gone," Lucy explained with false cheer. She had just remembered seeing such a job on the S-class request board. She really didn't want to be away from her friends for so long but it was the only reasonable excuse she could come up with for pulling Erza all the way out to an abandoned alleyway.

Erza blinked with confusion and surprise, as if she had been expecting something else. This solidified Lucy's theory.

"Oh… then why did you call me all the way out here? Surely you could have just told me in the guild hall," Erza said. Lucy swore she saw a flash of relief in the other girl's eyes. Erza was probably glad that she wouldn't have to hurt Lucy's feelings.

Lucy forced a smile onto her face. "I wouldn't want anyone overhearing and making a big fuss out of it. I thought that maybe I could just tell you in private and you can reassure everyone else when I'm gone."

Erza nodded slowly. "That makes sense. You're right." She glanced at the setting sun in the distance. "Well, it's getting late now so if that's all, we should start heading back to the hall," she said.

Lucy nodded and they both walked back to the guild in silence, except with less of the tense atmosphere from earlier.

But even as Lucy put on a content smile and greeted her friends cheerfully on the outside, on the inside, she was hurting and her heart was painfully breaking into tiny pieces.

When she got home, she told Ria what happened and told her about her plan to go on the month long mission. Her friend listened sympathetically and supported her decision fully. Although the mission thing had just been an excuse she made up on the spot, it would a good idea to get away for a while and sort out her feelings. She packed that night and taking the bare necessities, went to the guild hall early next morning, grabbed the mission sheet and walked out.

A month. A month was all she needed to lock away her feelings to the deepest part of her heart.

Then, she would come back from the mission and everything would be normal. She would just be Erza's friend and she would be perfectly happy with that.

Everything would be normal.

000

As it turned out, Lucy didn't even need the full month to complete the mission. It had been a simple follow-and-defeat job. She had been asked to shadow/stalk a group of dangerous and powerful bandits who could use magic. She had followed them until they led her to the place they kept all their stolen goods. When they revealed the place, she had made her presence known and had taken all nine of them down in less than twenty minutes. Then she had dragged them to the council and had reported the location of their hiding place to her client. All this had taken a total of twenty one days which was much faster than what had been expected. It was mainly due to luck that the bandits revealed their hiding place so quickly but Lucy shamelessly took the extra amount of jewels that the client offered for her quick completion of the job.

During the many days and nights spent in almost complete silence, Lucy had been able to sort out her feelings. Now, she could confidently say that she was fine with just being Erza's friend. She would be fine even if the other girl got together with someone else. Well, she wouldn't be fine, but she would at least try and be happy for Erza.

"Finally, we're back," Ria sighed with relief. Lucy chuckled. Her friend hadn't been particularly happy about lurking in the humid forest in utter silence for nearly a month. "I thought I was going to die of boredom," the small girl complained.

"It took fewer days than I thought so you should be happy about that," Lucy said.

"I guess…" Ria muttered. Then, she quickly brightened. "Oh look! I can see the guild hall in the distance," she said, pointing to the distance. Lucy looked and smiled when she saw the familiar outline of the guild hall. But as they got closer and the view of the guild was much clearer, something odd caught Lucy's eye. Although the outline of the guild was pretty much the same, something was flickering around the building. And was it just her imagination or did the guild hall look unusually _green?_

"Ria, can you fly up and see what's going on with the guild? There something odd about it and I have a bad feeling…" Lucy asked urgently. Her walk started speeding into a run and her heart was pounding with fear and anxiety. Something was wrong. Something was _seriously _wrong.

Ria nodded and sped away into the sky. And Before Lucy could break into a full sprint; an agitated old man approached her and grabbed her arm, causing her to stop. Now that Lucy properly looked around, everyone in the area seemed agitated and afraid.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "What's going on?" she growled. She hadn't meant to sound so harsh but she couldn't help it.

"You're from Fairy Tail, aren't you?" the old man asked, the panic and desperation clear in his voice.

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "Yes I am." She was getting really worried now. Did something happen to her friends while she was away? God no, not again. "What's going on?" she repeated anxiously.

Just then, Ria flew over, her face pale. "Lucy…" her voice trembled. "Something terrible is going on at the guild. Lots of windows are busted and there's this sick looking green flame engulfing the entire building and… Lucy, I'm scared. What if everyone's hurt badly?"

Lucy clenched her jaws. What the hell was going on? But there wasn't time to leisurely chat with the old man. Her friends might be needing her help this very moment. "Let's go and find out Ria. We don't have time to stand around like this." She had been training and getting stronger for this very reason: to protect her friends and family. What was the point of it all if she just stood around and panicked?

"Wait. It's the Midnight Assassins guild. I've heard from people that the Midnight Assassins are attacking your guild. We've called for enforcements but they might not make it in time," the old man said. "You have to save them," he pleaded. "Fairy Tail has helped out our family so much and I haven't even repaid them for their kindness. You have to save them!"

Lucy nodded. "Of course I will. They're my precious family. Come on Ria, we haven't got a lot of time!" She started full on sprinting, with Ria on her shoulders.

Midnight Assassins. She had heard of the guild in passing before. There had been rumours that many of the official guilds had been annihilated by this dark guild whose members were apparently incredibly powerful mages with large bounties on their heads. The Council had wanted to get rid of Midnight Assassins for a long time but the guild left no traces or clues to their whereabouts. Also, their target guilds and their times of attack were always so random that even the Council couldn't possibly predict the next victim. If Midnight Assassins were as powerful as the rumours claimed to be, there was no chance of Fairy Tail surviving this attack. The very fact that there were green flames and Natsu hadn't done anything about it worried her a great deal. It either meant that he couldn't eat the flames or he wasn't in a state to do so.

She rushed past the cathedral and sprinted to the guild. As she got closer, she could already hear the loud crashes and felt the ground shake from the big explosions. When she arrived at the scene, the blood froze in her veins. She heard a horrified gasp from Ria and then a choked sob.

Lucy stood frozen as her eyes took in the state of her guild. The door was completely busted down and the walls now had many holes. The whole building was wrapped in a sickly green flame that seemed to emit poisonous gases. There were splinters of wood covering the floor and the bar was completely trashed with seemingly millions of broken shards of glass lying around on the floor. But it wasn't the building itself that caused her to feel ice running through her entire body.

It was the sight of a lifeless Natsu being stomped on by a grinning Mo-hawked man.

It was the sight of Gray lying on the ground coughing out blood after blood after blood until his face was soaked completely red with it.

It was the sight of a slumping Lisanna and then watching her being shot by a hooded woman wearing a pair of sunglasses.

It was the sight of Mirajane, Elfman and Cana being cut down by a man wielding a long blade and hearing their pained screams ripped from their throats.

It was the sight of the master, Laxus, Bisca, Warren, Alzack, Reedus, Evergreen, Freed, Bickslow, Macao, Wakaba, Levy, Jet and Droy lying dead. Everyone Lucy had thought be unbeatable were now lifelessly thrown around, as if they were mere toys. The sight made her feel sick.

It was the sight of her beloved little sister Wendy being thrown across the hall and crashing into the pile of sharp splinters. Happy and Charle were being held by their necks by a sneering man.

It was the sight of Erza Scarlet lying in a pool of her own blood with cuts and wounds all over her face and her body. Her breathing was short and shallow and her body was otherwise still.

It was seeing all these things at once in the span of a few seconds that made her blood freeze to ice and her vision to grow red with fury.

The man wielding the long blade approached Erza and stood above her with his sword's tip aiming for her heart. Lucy ran into the guild hall with red tinting her vision. Immediately, the poison from the green flame entered her lungs and she quickly put up a barrier around herself and Ria to prevent any more from entering. The little that had entered Lucy caused her internal organs to feel like they were being soaked in a pool of scorching acid. It made her legs feel like jelly but she continued to advance, screaming for her legs to obey her commands to run towards the man with the blade and punch his face in. She had to run faster dammit! She watched in horror as the blade pierced straight through Erza's steel armour as well as her heart and pulled out again with the girl's dark red blood coating and running down the length of the blade.

"No! You bastard!" Lucy screamed as she willed her legs to go faster. She stumbled and fell to the ground. She barely had time to register what was happening before a bullet tore through her barrier and embedded itself into her shoulder. Lucy gritted her teeth and refused to scream out in pain. She felt blood coming out from the wound and causing her shirt to stick to her skin.

"I'll fucking kill all of you! I'll make you pay for killing my friends! Fuck!" Lucy shouted as she pulled herself to her knees. The woman holding the sniper shot again. Lucy quickly evaded her head and the bullet only grazed her neck. Now that the bit of poison was starting to wear off, she got to her feet and dodged all the bullets. During one of her jumps, the man holding the blade jumped in and stabbed her leg before quickly moving away and aiming for her head. When the blade was thrust forward, Lucy brought up her arms and caught the blade with her bare hands, causing trails of blood to run down her palm. Holding it tightly, she pulled in front of her forehead to deflect the bullets. She had seen the way the blade had pierced threw steel as if was butter. She realised then that the blade was probably enchanted with magic. Is this how these guys had killed master? The master was one of the 10 Saints for gods' sake. If he couldn't defeat these guys, how could Lucy possibly? She was having so much trouble just against two of these guys.

Just then, she felt something sharp piercing her stomach and she looked down to see the tip of a sword protruding from her.

"Shi-" she couldn't even finish cursing as the sword was pulled out at the same time as another round of bullets grazed her cheeks, arms and legs. She felt blood _everywhere _on her body and she was starting to feel lightheaded. Was this the end? She vaguely heard Ria's scream of horror. _Stay quiet Ria, _Lucy thought, _they might find you and kill you too. _

Her vision was growing hazy and her body felt numb all over. _Ah… Is this what dying feels like? _

But at least she was dying along with her family. There was no point in living if her friends weren't there with her. Her death was probably a good thing for everyone. Wherever she went, she seemed to cause the people around her to die. She supposed this was what she deserved. Even though she had told herself that Earth wasn't her home, joining Fairy Tail had caused her to forget her initial plan of returning to her own world. This was her punishment for being distracted. This was her punishment for being too attached.

She was ready to accept her death.

"Don't you dare die, Lucy!" Natsu's voice called out angrily.

Lucy's head snapped up. Everything around her was silver and the space seemed to stretch for eternity. Was this her afterlife? Or was this a dream or a hallucination? Was she dead?

"Natsu-san…? Why? I deserve to die. I couldn't even save anyone," Lucy cried as tears fell down her face.

"No you don't Lucy. It wasn't your fault. Stand tall and carry on. Don't use death as an excuse to be a coward. Live on Lucy. Live on for us and for everyone else who you hold dear. Explore the world! Have fun! Find your way back home. Find your happiness once again," Erza said with a kind smile.

"I…" Lucy choked out. She wanted to. She was so tired of hurting and watching her friends being hurt because of her. She was utterly sick of being so powerless. Even now…even after years of training and honing her skills, she was still the same, powerless girl she had been when she had first stepped into the guild hall. Was it really that easy? Would she be able to find people to protect again?

Erza bent down and wrapped her arms around Lucy. "You will Lucy. You will find your way home again. I promise you will. Make a promise with me that you'll do everything to stay alive. No matter what happens, promise me that you won't give up your life."

"I promise," Lucy whispered. She was determined to keep her promise. She will find her happiness, no matter how much she didn't deserve it.

"Thank you," Erza said and with one last smile, she disappeared, leaving Lucy to be alone once more.

But she was nearly dead already. How was she to stop from dying? Those people she fought against were too powerful. As she thought that, a gently glowing silver orb appeared in front of her.

"_Reach your hand inside the orb and imagine that you are unlocking something. Then, when you feel the click, focus on the force of your emotions. How desperately you want to live, how sad you are or how angry you are. When you feel like you are about to burst with the emotions, imagine releasing it all it one go." _

Lucy held back her tears. This could go very wrong. She slowly reached her hand inside the orb and felt it being sucked in. She thought about her promise with Erza and the rest of the guild. She remembered the emotions she had felt when she saw her friends get murdered. She focused on the anger, desperation, and sadness and felt it well up inside her until she felt she was about to burst.

"_Good. Now release it all." _

She did as she was told. The orb quickly burst and caused a huge explosion of silver light.

She would live on and keep her promise.

She would find her home again.


	14. Lucy's past part final

**Wheeeeew! This is a VERY long chapter. At least for me, it is. Anyway, this is the last part of Lucy's past and I sincerely hope I don't disappoint.**

**WARNING: there are some slightly disturbing scenes of violence towards the ends so... It's not that graphic and I personally think it's fine but I'm not sure about the readers so this is placed here for just in case.**

* * *

"Wow, it's pretty disturbing to hear about our own deaths," Gray said with a disturbed look. Everyone nodded in agreement. Lucy had seen many horrified faces as she retold the Midnight Assassin's attack and she didn't blame them. It must be a hard concept to grasp that _everyone _in the guild had been killed or defeated, including the master. But to be fair, everyone's counterparts had been much younger and less experienced, not to mentioned that they had been ambushed by the dark guild.

"Arghh! My other self is pathetic! If it was ME, I would have beaten those guys to a pulp!" Natsu shouted angrily with his fist blazing with fire. Some other members of the guild murmured to each other, most likely agreeing with Natsu's opinion. It did seem awfully unlikely that Fairy Tail would be defeated so easily by a mere dark guild. But Lucy knew better. She had been there and she had seen Midnight Assassin's skill. There had been quite a lot of them as well so the stronger members of Fairy Tail most probably would have faced more than one opponent at the same time. Considering all these factors, it wasn't completely unimaginable that Fairy Tail would lose.

"To be fair, our counterparts were much younger so therefore much weaker," Erza said, acting as the voice of reason.

"What happened to the dark guild?! They didn't get away did they?" Levy asked anxiously. "I don't want to imagine any other guilds going through what our counterparts did."

"Don't worry, they didn't get away. In fact, I'll be explaining that soon enough," Lucy reassured, causing Levy to relax.

"Yup! I witnessed what happened after all!" Ria called out cheerfully.

Lucy nodded. "Right. Anyway, continuing on…"

000

_Four years ago. Year X780_

"Ugh…" Lucy groaned in pain as she slowly opened her eyes. She immediately slammed them shut again when a particularly blinding ray of light hit her eyes and caused them to _burn. _She groaned again as she felt her eyes stinging behind her closed eyelids. She waited for a few seconds for the throbbing to fade away. Surely, no matter how long she had been robbed of sunlight, her eyes weren't supposed to hurt _this _much? It was normal for people to feel pain in their eyes when suddenly exposed to sunlight but not to the point where they felt as if someone was poking them with two sharp acidic needles. And it wasn't just her eyes that were hurting. No, she was aching _all over _her body. Even the slightest of movements sent a jolt of unfathomable amount of pain. Due to this, Lucy very wisely chose to stay absolutely still.

When the pain in her eyes died down, she risked opening them once again very _very _slowly. This time, when she felt the painful stinging sensation again, she hissed and repeatedly blinked her eyes to distract herself. She continued this action for a few minutes until the pain died down to become a dull throb. Just then, she heard the sound of the door opening and a loud set of footsteps. She tried to turn her neck to see who it was but quickly stopped when she felt a wave of pain erupting near her shoulder.

"Ow!" She cried out.

"Finally, you're awake. I thought you were going to stay in that bed forever," a gruff voice said with a bored tone.

"Lucy!" This time, the voice was high and excited and much more familiar. "Lucy! You're awake! I'm so glad you're okay!" Ria cried as she flew straight into Lucy's face.

"Ow, Ria! Mind the cheek!" Lucy hissed. She was surprised to hear how hoarse and scratchy her voice sounded.

The Elfling backed away immediately. "Whoops, sorry," she apologised.

"If you brats are done with your heart-warming reunion, I would like the blondie to hop out of my bed as soon as she can and get the hell out of my castle. You've both been a real pain in my ass," the gruff voice said.

Lucy frowned slightly at the rudeness but decided to ultimately let it slide since she was apparently alive thanks to this person. "Well I would if it weren't for the fact that I can't even move a centimetre without feeling like I'm being stabbed by a sharp knife. Again," she said.

The person scoffed. "God, kids these days are such wimps. But that shouldn't be a problem now that you're awake. Your wounds should be healing very soon and you'll feel as good as new. Then, you can get out of my castle."

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. How would her wounds possibly heal so fast? And who was this person anyway? She decided to ask. "Who are you?"

"My name is Erza Arkot and I'm the owner of this castle that you're freeloading in," the voice said in annoyance.

Lucy's eyes widened and she quickly sat up and turned her head to see the person, despite the burning sensation spreading throughout her body. Her eyes took in the visage of a scowling red haired woman who looked exactly identical to Erza Scarlet except this woman was taller, looked much older and had really messy hair.

"Wha…?" she breathed, her mouth opening and closing silently like a dumb goldfish as she stared.

"Oh yeah, I was going to mention this," Ria said. "I was really surprised as well! Now I know for sure that you were telling the truth when you said you weren't originally from Earth but from another dimension."

The Erza standing in front of Lucy raised her eyebrows. "I don't know what the hell you're blabbering about and I don't care. Just get out of my castle before I drive you out myself."

Lucy frowned. "But my wounds…" she said as she looked down at her palms where an ugly scar had formed from when she had caught the guy's blade with her bare hands. She clenched her hands experimentally and winced when the wounds stretched and ached. But just as she reopened her palms, she witnessed the scars slowly fading away, taking the throbbing pain along with it. Lucy gaped in amazement and wonder. She quickly checked her shoulder where a bullet wound was supposed to be and gasped when she only felt the surface of smooth, unmarred skin. As she went over her body for cuts, bruises and broken bones, she found none and as she cautiously stood on her feet and moved around, she felt none of the pain from before. It was as if the wounds hadn't been there in the first place and if Lucy was being honest, it was actually kind of creeping her out.

"What the?" she said, confused.

"Oh my gosh! That was like magic! That was so cool!" Ria said as she darted around Lucy.

"Why are you so excited about this? You should be used to magic by now. Though this is really weird…" Lucy muttered.

The rude version of Erza clapped her hands sarcastically. "Yipee. See? I was right. Now that you're all healed, get out of my castle. I've already done enough for you. I don't usually do charity work and you've long overstayed your welcome. Both of you, out." she said, pointing at the door.

"How long have I stayed here?" Lucy asked.

"Too long," Erza replied unhelpfully. "Now _out._"

"We've stayed here for three days. I woke up while this woman was putting you onto this bed," Ria supplied. "I stayed with you in this room for the most part but just before you woke up, I noticed that you were fidgeting a bit so I went to fetch this Erza in case something was wrong. I was so happy and relieved when I found you awake."

Lucy's eyes softened. "Thanks for worrying about me. I'm glad I still have you by my side, Ria."

"Yeah, me too Lucy," Ria replied.

"How touching," Erza deadpanned. "In fact, why don't you take it outside where you can take as long as you want to weep over each other without bothering me?"

_The change in personality is way too drastic, _Lucy thought to herself as she took in this new Erza whose surname was apparently Arkot.

A sudden nagging thought entered her mind and Lucy quickly checked her belt for her keys. She relaxed when she found her leather pouch where all her precious Celestial keys were kept. Her spirits were her precious friends so she would have been devastated if she had lost them. Now that her mind was at rest knowing that her spirits were at least safe, she analysed her current situation. The last thing she remembered was causing that massive silver explosion and her promise with Erza.

…Who was standing in front of her right now, except she wasn't the Erza Lucy was used to.

"_This is another one of those 'different dimensions', isn't it?" _Lucy mentally asked Shari.

Lucy frowned when no answer came. Usually, Shari always immediately answered, no matter what the situation was. It was strange that Shari would stay so silent, especially when something so interesting had happened to Lucy.

Then, she heard Shari's voice. _"Blood… I need blood…" _Lucy gasped and clutched her head. What the hell was going on? The voice was unmistakably Shari but at the same time, it was different. It sounded a lot emptier, like a lifeless machine and it held none it Shari's usual lilting tone. It was _raw, _as if it was hungry for something. _"Kill…get blood…" _The voice echoed. It stirred something inside of Lucy and made her feel a desperate need for something. But what? Lucy squeezed her eyes shut. _Stop it, _she willed. She took deep breaths and forced the voice to the back of her brain where she couldn't hear it anymore. It probably wasn't a good idea to attempt to talk to Shari in this state. Not until she figured out what was happening to her.

"Lucy, are you okay? You've been really quiet and you're acting a bit weird," Ria asked in concern.

"I'm fine…" Lucy reassured, taking her hands away from her head.

Erza, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly what was going on with Lucy. "Ah, you're getting _those _urges, aren't you? I'm actually a little surprised it didn't come as soon as you woke up," she said. Lucy swore she saw a flash of sympathy in Erza's brown eyes but it was gone the next moment, masked by a look of annoyance and utter indifference.

"_What urge?_" Lucy asked, her voice conveying her frustration at her own lack of knowledge or awareness of her situation.

"Look kid, I don't have all day to answer your questions. You begged to be saved and for some reason, I listened and saved you. I don't usually do that. So don't let me regret my decision and get out," Erza said, her voice entirely unsympathetic.

"Rude much. I still can't get my head around the difference in personality," Ria said with a huff. Then, sadly, she whispered, "I miss the Erza from Earth. I miss all of our friends."

A lump lodged itself in Lucy's throat and her heart ached as she thought about her deceased friends. She wanted to comfort Ria and be comforted but she remembered her promise with Erza and quickly shook away the depressing thoughts. Moping and sobbing weren't going to bring her friends back. Neither was panicking or screaming or punching down the nearest wall. She had to stay calm and think things through with a clear head.

"Where the hell is Earth?"

Lucy snapped her head up in surprise. Ria had barely whispered her last sentence. Her voice had been so quiet that even Lucy, whose ear was right next to Ria, had a hard time hearing. Erza's hearing must be really good. It probably wasn't as good as Natsu's hearing but it was really good nonetheless.

"I'll answer your questions if you answer mine," Lucy said with a lot more confidence than before.

"Yeah, no. That's not happening. I'm not that desperate to know. Since you don't seem to have any intentions of leaving, I will have to simply kick you out myself," Erza said.

And before Lucy could even blink, she felt a hand roughly grabbing her shoulder and the next thing she knew, she was standing outside in the open air in front of a huge castle circled by a moat. When Erza let her go, she stumbled from dizziness and the pain in her eyes increased a little. She felt as if something had been ripped away from her, only to be given back in a different form. She soon regained her footing and shook away the dizziness and stared at Erza.

"Was that teleportation?" Lucy asked. She had encountered some people with the ability on Earth but none had been as fast as Erza.

"I'm surprised you know. Anyway, go through the forest behind you and walk down the main path until you reach the town area. The townsfolk around there are stupidly nice so they'll probably let you stay somewhere for free if you do a bit of work for them. I'm sure you'll work something out but whatever you do, make sure you don't come back here," Erza said as she turned her back to Lucy. In a flash, the redhead disappeared without a trace.

"Well, she was… interesting," Ria muttered.

"That's one way to put it," Lucy commented dryly.

"So, what are you going to do now? What's the plan?" the silver haired girl asked.

Lucy thought for a moment. She should take Erza's advice and walk to the town for a place to sleep. Although she didn't particularly feel sleepy or hungry, she probably should eat and take a nap to fully restore her energy. Then, it would be best to scope out the area and get a feel of what the world was like in general. After that, she could start planning for a way back to her original home Earthland. She had made a promise and she intended to keep it. She had this theory that since her parents also existed in Earth but as counterparts to her real parents in Earthland, there must also be counterparts of Fairy Tail and all her friends. Judging from the extreme similarity of the geography and the people's characteristics, Lucy could only guess that her friends wouldn't be much different in Earthland. And no matter how long it took her, Lucy really and desperately wanted to see them again. This hope, as well as her promise made with Erza, were the only things keeping Lucy from breaking down. Of course, having Ria next to her was a big help as well.

Lucy broke out of her reverie. She frowned thoughtfully. "Erza-san did something to me and it's the reason why I healed miraculously, I'm sure of it. She said she 'saved' me but I was probably a few minutes away from death. Makes you wonder what she did exactly to 'save' me, don't you think?" She turned to Ria. "Do you know what happened? Can you explain what happened after that explosion? I don't remember anything."

Ria fluttered around, humming. "Hm… I don't know what she did to save you since I was also unconscious when it happened. I can tell you what happened after the explosion though. When you got stabbed in your stomach and fell to the floor, I was so scared and I kept on clinging to you and screamed for you to wake up. Your breathing was becoming really slow and the woman was firing bullets at you still and I really thought you were dead. But then, your body started glowing _really brightly _and the explosion happened. Since I was still holding onto you, I was unhurt but when the shock waves died down and the smoke cleared after around twenty minutes, all the Midnight Assassins members were lying unconscious on the floor. Then, just in front of where you were lying, there was this small crack in the air, like a crack you would find in a window and a tiny shard fell off. Then there was this bright burst of silver light and that's about all I remember. As for the status of the Midnight Assassins, I'm not sure if they were dead or simply knocked out but I do remember hearing the council army bursting in just before I fell unconscious so I can only assume that the Midnight Assassins are safely locked up in jail."

So it was the exact same thing from when she was five years old. This time, she seemed to have been pulled into another strange world quite unlike Earth and Earthland. The first drastic difference was that she couldn't feel the magic in her environment flowing into her and giving her power. She had experimentally tried summoning Loke but the spirit did not appear. She hadn't even felt a single speck of magic. She had then tried using her silver magic, fully expecting to fail but to her immense surprise, it worked just as normal and a slender silver sword had appeared in her hand. It was truly baffling. If there was no magic in the environment to support her, she shouldn't be able to use it and while this had been true for her Celestial magic, her silver magic hadn't been affected in any way. There were so many questions Lucy wanted to ask Shari since the blonde mage was certain that her long-time friend would know but she remembered the events from earlier and restrained herself. Now that Lucy thought about it, she was certain that Erza Arkot had something to do with Shari's sudden change.

"I'm really glad you're alive, Lucy. I don't know what I would do without you," Ria's soft voice cut into Lucy's thoughts. The girl's voice trembled slightly as she continued. "I was so scared you know. I really thought that you were going to die. I was terrified that you were going to die and leave me behind just like my family. I thought I was going to be all alone again. You won't leave me behind right, Lucy?" her voice was small and vulnerable and Lucy was reminded of the day when she had first met Ria. After seeing her family killed and her house burned down, Ria had immediately attached herself to Lucy, seeking comfort in the only person who had been there to save her life.

Lucy gently placed Ria on her palm and looked into her eyes, hoping that her gaze conveyed her sincerity. "I'm sorry I made you feel like that, Ria. You're like a sister to me as well as my best friend. I can tell you all my secrets, I can rely on you to make me feel better and I can trust you to always be by my side. That's why, although I have lots of faults and can be really unreliable at times, you can definitely trust me to never leave you behind. I trust you so you can trust me, right?"

"…Yeah." Ria gave her a watery smile and flew over to hug Lucy's neck. They stayed like that for a while until Ria giggled and pulled away.

"I was just thinking, even though the Erza in this world is really rude, I feel thankful towards her for saving your life," Ria said.

"Yeah, me too. I bet she's a big softie on the inside," Lucy agreed.

"I wouldn't go that far, Lucy. You're probably just biased."

Lucy fake gasped. "What? Me? Biased? Never! You're just jealous, Ria. Just because you're fat and Erza-san isn't."

"That doesn't even make any sense! And I am NOT fat! If I'm fat, you're a humongous… pig."

"Wow, original. Real creativity right here, folks."

"Shut up Lucy. Like you can come up with anything better."

"Everything I think of is better than your insults. Anyway, let's hurry up and head to the town before it gets late," Lucy said, walking into the forest.

"Aha! You're changing the topic! I won this round blondie!" Ria shouted triumphantly as she flew after the blonde mage. Lucy chuckled in amusement at her friend's childishness. Even though they were probably going to face a lot of difficulty settling in, she was just glad that they were both alive and okay. They were alive and they had each other for company. That was all that mattered.

000

In fact, a week passed and Lucy had completely gotten used to this new world. Turned out, Erza had been right about the townsfolk being ridiculously nice. After they had reached the town, Lucy and Ria had entered a small library nearby for a bit of rest. They had sat there until closing time and the owner, who was a nice young man named Rakael, had approached them and asked if they were new to town. Lucy had explained that they had nowhere to go and asked if there were any places they could sleep for free since they did not have any of this world's currency. Rakael had then offered them a job in the library and had offered a spare room in his house above the first floor. Lucy had accepted gratefully. They were given three meals a day and a room to sleep in. In compensation, Lucy worked extra hard to repay Rakael's kindness.

During her job, Lucy did a bit of research and snooping around and she was able to find quite a bit of information on the world she was currently in. The world's name was Arais and its history was not as long as both Earth's or Earthland's. Their technology was not as advanced as the previous worlds Lucy came from. They had no real modes of transportation such as mobiles or trains other than carriages pulled by horses. Also, Arais had no magic whatsoever. However, there was one thing that Lucy found very interesting. In the world of Arais, the existence of vampires was very real and it was a well-known fact among everyone, whether they were a vampire or not.

With further reading, Lucy had come to the understanding that vampires in Arais were very different from the widely known mythological creatures in the works of fiction she had read about before. To put it simply, vampires were people who were revived from the dead and given another chance at life. If a dead person is injected with vampire blood within three weeks after their death, they gain 'eternal life'. (Although, it was not as eternal as Lucy had imagined since once someone becomes a vampire, they can still die again if they are killed.) The perks of being a vampire were that you gain superhuman speed and strength, slightly heightened senses and the ability to teleport (if you are able to master the technique). Also, you do not age once you become a vampire. For example, if someone was turned into a vampire when they were three years old, their physical body would remain a three year old forever while their mental age grew with each passing moment. If someone was turned into a vampire when they were hundred years old, their physical body would remain as a hundred year old forever. Of course, 'forever' as in either until someone else comes along to physically kill them or until they commit suicide. On the other hand, the downfall of being a vampire was that your eyes would constantly hurt in the sunlight and you would get a constant craving for human blood. Further research showed that most vampires were shunned by society and treated as evil beings to be vanquished, even if they had been turned against their will. No one knew of where vampires originated from and how it came to be.

Lucy had found this to be very fascinating and although Ria had been freaked out at first, she too had developed an interest in this particular topic, especially when Lucy had once offhandedly grumbled about how annoying it was to have a constant dull throb of pain in her eyes during the day. Ria had immediately perked up and had started this long rant of theories of how Lucy had survived her near-death experience. Her main theory being that Lucy had been turned into a vampire by Erza Arkot, who was also a vampire. Lucy had scoffed at the ridiculous idea and had dismissed it since she definitely did not feel a constant craving for human blood.

It was only when she accidentally broke a table in half one day that she really started considering the idea. It was true that her eye sight had strangely gotten a lot better recently as well as her hearing and her sense of smell. She also had to admit that she ran _a lot _faster compared to before during her training sessions to the point where she had beaten her record of the fastest time to complete a kilometre sprint without even having to run at her current full speed. Not to mention that she had accidentally broke a big wooden table in half with a simple smack that she had delivered to kill a fly lying on the surface of the table. Honestly, Lucy would have to have been a complete dense idiot to not have connected the dots by this point. Ria had said 'I told you so' with a smug little smile.

"We're going to go visit Erza-san tomorrow after dinner," Lucy had announced during the afternoon that day.

"Sure," Ria had shrugged. "She's not going to be happy about it though."

Lucy for once, could care less about that. She was desperate for some answers and since Erza seemed like the only person to hold them, she would bug the hell out of the other woman and get the truth out of her.

The next day, after eating their dinner, they told Rakael that they would be out for a small walk and left for the castle beyond the forest.

"How are you planning to talk to her? I doubt she would willingly come out of her castle just to have a little chat," Ria said.

"It's okay. I have a plan," Lucy reassured, earning a groan from her friend.

"Your plans always fail. Tell me what your plan is," Ria said.

Lucy spluttered indignantly. "My plans do not fail all the time! My plans are awesome! Anyway, once we get through this forest, we're going to somehow get over the moat, beat up the guards and break in. Then, we'll find where Erza-san is and demand answers. My plan is flawless," she finished.

Ria rolled her eyes. "Yeah, flawless if you ignore the thousands of ways it could backfire on us terribly. Erza can freaking teleport and you can't. There's the first flaw. Plus won't she be really pissed if we break in? I doubt she'll sit and listen to our questions. There's the second flaw."

Lucy frowned. "You just have to be a party pooper don't you?"

"It's called using my brain."

They fell silent as the path gave way to the familiar clearing in front of the castle. Lucy quickly hid behind a tree and silently surveyed the area and tried to count the number of guards at the gate. Surprisingly, there were no guards in front of the gate or anywhere else.

"There aren't any guards. That's pretty risky, leaving a huge castle unguarded like that," Lucy said with a small frown.

"Isn't that a good thing? It just makes our job easier," Ria replied.

"Yeah, I suppose…" Lucy murmured distractedly. She could faintly hear some voices in the distance and she was trying to figure out where exactly it was coming from. Her eyes darted from one place to another at an alarming speed, trying to spot anything unusual.

"Hey, Lucy? Is everything okay?" Ria called out.

"Shhh! It's just… I hear some voices and I'm trying to figure out where it's coming from." Lucy closed her eyes and focused. The sounds were coming from near the castle, she was sure of it. As she listened in closer, she heard the unmistakable sound of metal clashing against metal as well as some cries of pain. Just then, a loud gun shot reverberated through the air and Lucy snapped her eyes open.

"Come one Ria! It's near the castle, towards the back!" Lucy shouted and started running towards the castle at full speed, which was damn fast. She followed the curve of the moat until she found a large crowd of people all wielding weapons and attacking one person.

"Is that Erza?" Ria gasped. Lucy looked and sure enough, it was the grouchy red haired woman who had saved them a week ago. She was in the middle of the crowd, fending off all the attackers with ease. Although Lucy felt a stab of urge to rush in and help out, another part of her just wanted to watch the fight. It didn't seem like Erza needed any help in the first place. As Lucy observed, she recognised that the attackers were trained fighters, each specialising in their weapon. Their movements were flowing and in synch with one another and their strikes were powerful and precise. However, what amazed Lucy even more was how Erza was keeping each and one of the twenty or so attackers at bay with no apparent effort. She dodged swiftly and made every single attack count. She used the attacker's weapons to her advantage, manipulating some of the spears to ram into another attacker while simultaneously sweeping out three more with a powerful swing. The more Lucy watched the more in awe she became. She even admitted to herself that this Erza was even stronger than Erza Scarlet. In fact, this Erza was on another level altogether.

When the last of the attackers dropped to the ground defeated, Erza looked up and glared straight at Lucy. "What are you doing here you brats? Didn't I tell you not to come back?"

But Lucy couldn't hear anything as she stared at the mass of unconscious bodies lying around Erza. She felt something rising in her chest, slowly becoming more and more intense as she stared. She hadn't felt like this in a long time. She hadn't felt such strong awe and admiration for anyone in a long, long time. It left the blonde mage feeling slightly breathless and giddy. All questions she had regarding her situation flew out of the window and the only thought remained in her head was:

_Gosh, she's so strong. I want to become strong like that. I want to learn how to fight like that. _

"Who are they?" Lucy blurted out, staring at the bodies littering the ground.

Erza sighed, almost as if she had resigned herself to talking to an annoying pest. "These are vampire hunters. They think they were sent to Arais by some kind of God to get rid of the 'creatures of evil'. In short, they're a real pain in the ass to deal with. Especially since they make it their job to train in all sorts of martial arts to defeat the vampires."

So Erza had taken out more than dozen of these professional martial artists in one go with no effort. Lucy wanted that. She wanted that kind of strength. And so, without any further contemplation, she bowed her head deeply and shouted, "Erza-san! Please make me your student!"

There was a long pause and Lucy raised her head. She was met by a look of incredulousness and irritation.

"Huh?! No fucking way brat. Where did that even come from?!" Erza said.

"I saw your fight. You were amazing. Your fighting style, your strength, your ability to stay composed. Everything about the way you fought screamed that you are very strong and I want to learn how to be as strong as you. I want to become stronger. Please! I beg you, make me your student and teach me how to fight!"

Erza's expression darkened. "Go away before I make you. Kids like you don't have any business learning how to be a killing machine. I'm not going to teach anyone anything so leave me the hell alone."

Lucy stayed on her spot and ignored Ria's worried noises. "You did something to me didn't you? I can tell. I don't care what you did to me. Please, just teach me how to become stronger."

Erza turned away. "This is the last time I'm going to say this: I'm not going to teach you anything. Don't ever bug me again." And with that, she disappeared.

Lucy sighed and glanced at the still unconscious attackers and then at the castle.

"What are you going to do Lucy?" Ria asked, despite her tone suggesting that she already knew Lucy's answer.

"I'm going to come back. I'm going to keep trying until she accepts me." Lucy's eyes were determined as she said this. She wanted to become stronger. She wanted to become a person who could save her friends, not a person who watched helplessly as everyone she loved got ripped away from her. She clenched her fists. "I'm definitely going to become stronger and go back home."

From then on, Lucy always visited the castle after dinner without fail. She would stand outside the building and scream for Erza to come out and accept her as a student. Sometimes, Erza did come out just to yell at Lucy and send her away. Most days, Ria accompanied her but even she got tired of it after a while and stayed at the library to sleep. It was only after nearly two weeks of begging, screaming, following persistently and getting beaten up that Erza finally gave in and accepted Lucy. The blonde mage had then run to the library to tell Ria who was surprised to hear that Lucy had succeeded to convince the redhead. Lucy gave Rakael warm thanks and promised that she would visit from time to time before collecting the little amount of belonging she possessed and moving into a guest room in the Arkot castle.

From then on, Lucy's days of brutal training began. Erza was true to her word and allowed no room for mercy when it came to training Lucy. The first thing Erza taught Lucy was how to teleport oneself as well as other people or object. It had been hard to grasp at first but Lucy soon got the hang of it. Once she mastered the basics, Erza taught her how to use teleportation efficiently in a fight and how to teleport form one place to another with the maximum speed. Sometimes, Erza would spring a random and impossible sounding task onto Lucy and give her the smallest amount of time to complete it. When Lucy failed to succeed in these tasks, she was given two extra hours of sparring with Erza which would always result in her coming back to her room bloody, sore and barely conscious. Besides teleportation, Lucy was taught how to control her strength in her daily life as well as how to utilise her speed and strength to its full potential. Apparently, this required quite a lot of concentration. On most days, Lucy trained to increase her combat skills and tried to raise her pain tolerance. With her increased stamina and healing speed along with the lack of need to sleep thanks to her being a vampire, she was able to relentlessly train without taking much time to rest. Ria constantly worried about her well-being and wanted her to take it easy but Lucy never stopped, partly to get stronger and partly to just get away from her thoughts.

Once a week, Erza had a special session where she would train Lucy in non-physical aspects needed in a fight such as how to keep calm in all situations and how to track and sense people at all times. She made Lucy practice things like yoga to help the blood flow and taught Lucy how to maintain her body in the perfect condition. Erza went on and on about balanced diets and healthy exercise to the point where she was starting to sound like an overbearing mother. Of course, Lucy never said this out loud in fear of being severely beaten up. Another thing that Erza taught Lucy in these sessions was something called 'presence'. It was like an intuition that vampires could feel towards everyone. Every person or animal had a unique presence and if Lucy was to concentrate hard enough, she could feel it and tell if she had met this person before or if this person was powerful or not. It was almost like scent except it wasn't something that could be smelled. Presence was something that was felt and recognised by the brain. Although each person had a unique presence, if two people's properties were similar, so were their presences.

Lucy soon learnt how to open up her own pocket dimension where she stored her Celestial keys as well as other small belongings. Every vampire had their very own pocket dimension but most did not know how to open theirs. To open it, you had to stare into the space for a long time with sharpened eyesight. Since vampires had special eyes, they would be able to see a rift in the space-time fabric and open it up to a small void dimension where anything could be stored. Lucy practiced opening hers for months before she was able to do it without much effort.

Lucy had explained her situation to Erza during the first week. The red haired woman had been incredibly sceptical of her at first but it lessened dramatically when she showed Erza her silver magic. Erza had then shown a mild interest in the topic but did not seemed to care about it too much, taking everything in strides and snarky comments. As for her silver magic, she mostly practiced by herself, although she was finding that it was becoming harder and harder to use her magic without getting a sudden craving for blood, much to her frustration and confusion.

During the third month of being Erza's student, a visitor stopped by the castle. This in itself was a very rare event and Lucy had been rather excited to meet this mysterious person who dared to enter the feared Arkot castle and visit Erza Arkot who was well known for being incredibly powerful and scary, not to mention moody. To say that Lucy had been surprised when she saw the mysterious victor would be an extreme understatement. Ria also had been shocked, openly gasping which she then desperately tried to cover up with a cough. For the visitor had been none other than Mirajane. (Well, Mirajane's counter-part in Arais) Along with the white haired woman, there had been a girl and a boy both around Lucy's age. The girl's name had been Evangeline whom Lucy had quickly made friends with, and the boy's name had been Thomas, who seemed to dislike Lucy for some reason.

During dinner that evening, after Mirajane and the two teenagers had left, Lucy finally gathered enough wits together to finally ask the questions she had been holding back on asking for a long time.

"Um…Shishou?" Lucy asked, glancing up at Erza.

"What?" the redhead grunted. It lacked its usual bite however, and Lucy took this as a sign to continue.

"Could I ask you a few questions?"

There was a sigh. Lucy looked up and watched as Erza put down her utensils and scraped her chair back. "I get the feeling that this will be more than a 'few questions'. Come down to my reading room once you're finished. I'll answer the questions there. And don't you dare come up with a huge list of things to ask just because I'm feeling extra nice today. Don't push your luck." With that, Erza walked out of the dining hall and down the corridor.

"Hm… she's surprisingly not so grumpy today. I wonder if Mirajane's visit has anything to do with it," Ria mused from her mini seat next to Lucy's plate of steak. Which was rather surprising because Lucy was very rarely given such an unbalanced meal. Lucy frowned. Maybe Ria was onto something there.

"Maybe, they did seem very close," Lucy said. Then, with a shrug, she went back to her food. It probably wasn't her business anyway. Erza was being unusually patient by agreeing to answer Lucy's questions at long last. And although time had caused the older woman to become slightly fond of the blonde mage, it still wasn't enough to completely soften her.

After dinner, Lucy and Ria walked to the reading room where the door was opened as soon as they knocked. Erza sat down on a plush leather chair and gestured for Lucy to do the same. The room smelled of old books and spring, which was kind of an odd combination but somehow, they seemed to blend together seamlessly.

"Ask your questions," Erza said, cutting straight to the chase with her usual bluntness.

"Okay…um…" Lucy contemplated her options. What should she ask first? Her brain was all jumbled up right now and couldn't seem to think properly.

"Firstly, how did you turn Lucy into a vampire? We were pretty sure you can only turn dead people," Ria said, stepping in and therefore giving Lucy some time to sort out her thoughts.

Erza rubbed her temples irately. "I figured you would ask something like that. Well, to be honest, that's what I had thought too until a few years ago. During one of her usual visits, Mirajane introduced me to that brat of a girl she brings with her everywhere called Evangeline. She explained how she had turned Evangeline into a vampire while the girl had been still alive. Of course, I didn't believe her at first but it was a little hard to not accept the truth when the girl continued to age normally the next year. Mirajane told me she had been doing an investigation to find out whether vampires were only limited to dead people. She injected her blood into willing volunteers, with the volunteers ranging from completely healthy and young to old and deathly sick people. However, the blood didn't react with any of these people. Then, she found that Evangeline girl on the brink of death and injected her blood into the girl and found that it worked. It gave her all the qualities of a vampire but allowed her to age normally. Mirajane then came up with this theory that people who are literally almost at death's door can also be turned into a vampire. Since this can be a very dangerous discovery, we decided to keep it between ourselves. Anyway, a few months ago, I went to visit Mirajane in her castle in the next town. By the time I was on my way back, it was already very dark. I took a short cut through the forest and on my way, I found you leaning against a tree by the river that separated the towns. You were almost completely covered in blood and I saw many wounds and cuts on your body. Honestly, I thought you were dead and I figured that even if you weren't, you were going to be very soon. There was no way to save you, it was already too late. So I was going to walk past you but you somehow managed to gain a small bit of consciousness to call out. 'Help me', you said. 'Please save me, I don't want to die. I need to live'. It was strange. I don't know what the fuck it was that possessed me but after I heard that, I bent down, bit a part of my skin off and fed you some of my blood. Of course, it might not have worked or I might have been too late but I saw that some of your cuts were starting to close up. I picked you off from the ground and took you to my castle. That's about what happened."

"How is Mirajane-san related to you, Shishou?" Lucy quickly asked.

"She used to live in the same village as me before we got turned into vampires. She's the main vampire living in the next town…and why is that question even relevant?!" Erza growled.

Lucy raised her hands in a surrendering manner. "I was just curious."

Erza scowled. "Well that's enough curiosity from you for today. Out with you. Don't forget that tomorrow is an all-day-double-douse training session so make sure to get good rest and be ready for it." The redhead smirked as Lucy let out a groan. All-day-double-douse training session was basically just an entire day of Lucy getting thoroughly beaten up except with double the pain. This day came once a month and apparently tomorrow was one of those days.

Ria winced. "Ouch Lucy. Poor you. They do say that curiosity killed the cat. In your case, curiosity killed any chance of you not coming back to our room with bruises all over your body."

"Shut up, I hate you," Lucy muttered as she walked out of the room quietly. That night, she lied in her bed and stared into the darkness, thinking about all that has transpired over the past few months. Lately, she just couldn't seem to fall asleep no matter how hard she tried and she briefly wondered if that had anything to do with her being a vampire. But it wasn't as if she slept during the day either and Erza seemed to be able to sleep just fine whenever she wanted to. Maybe she was subconsciously preventing herself from falling asleep to avoid the horrible nightmares that would surely haunt her during her slumber. Sometimes, she didn't even need to sleep to get the horrible visions of her friends reaching out to her, begging her for help only to be killed mercilessly, again and again until Lucy was gasping for breath and sobbing for everything to just _stop hurting. _She could clearly see that Ria was hurting as well but the girl always covered up her pain with a deceptively happy smile. She knew that Ria hid her pain for Lucy's sake but every time she found her friend crying silently in her sleep, she couldn't do anything but reach out and comfort the girl in her sleep. She hated how helpless she was but she tried her best because the last thing Lucy wanted was to see another person she loved suffering without her being able to do anything.

But every time she allowed herself to drown in her dark, self-loathing thoughts, her Shishou never failed to snap her out of it with a solid punch to the face and a reminder that she would be kicked out if she were to mope around like a kicked puppy for any longer. Despite how unorthodox the method seemed, it worked every time. It reminded Lucy of the happier times spent with her friends and each time she remembered, her resolve to return home burned stronger. But she knew would be sad to leave this world behind because although life in the Arkot castle was hectic, often physically painful and exhausting, it was fun. She enjoyed spending time with her Shishou despite the woman's often rude behaviour and she always thrived in the sparring sessions. She liked the adrenaline rushes and she liked the excitement of fighting someone stronger than her.

That's why, Lucy wanted to treasure her time as much as possible. She didn't want to even waste a single second so that when she left, she would be leaving with a smile. But that day wouldn't come for a long time, or at least Lucy hoped.

000

_Year X781_

Over the next nine months or so, Lucy completely dedicated herself to her training. Of course, she still made time to spend with Ria as the girl would sometimes get a little lonely and bored without Lucy around for the most part. During Sundays, Lucy was usually given the day off to store up energy for the next week and she mostly used this time to do investigate her silver magic and plan a way to get back to Earthland. It was easier said than done though and she often found herself frustrated at her lack of progress. Still, she didn't let it dishearten her and continued to try out different theories to open up a dimension portal or whatever it was that allowed her to travel between different worlds. Other than the occasional visits from Mirajane and Evangeline, days passed by with no excitement.

However, one day after their morning training session, Erza said something that completely surprised Lucy.

"Oi brat. It's your birthday sometime next week isn't it? When it comes, you can take the day off and have fun. Go to town or something and do whatever it is that teenagers do."

Lucy blinked up at Erza. She would have laughed at the woman's poor attempt at a warm smile if she wasn't so shocked. With everything that had been going on since she came to Arais, she had actually forgotten her birthday. In fact, she was also shocked that Erza even cared about birthdays. She seemed like someone who never celebrated birthdays but maybe Lucy had been too quick to judge.

"Oh, um…thank you Shishou. But what should I do?" Lucy asked, still blinking owlishly.

Erza scowled, completely ditching her poorly attempted and (to be honest) slightly disturbing smile. "How the hell should I know? Do I look like a teenager to you? Hang out with that Evangeline brat or something. In fact, why don't you hook up with some girl from town like the horny teenager you are? I don't care what you do."

"Shishou! I'm only thirteen you know! I'm not like that!" Lucy whined in embarrassment, feeling as if her face had caught on fire. She really regretted telling her Shishou about her sexual orientation. But then again, if she hadn't, Erza would probably tease her about hooking up with boys and that would be even worse.

"Right, of course. How can I forget? Must be from the way you stare after some of my maids like a lustful sixteen year old," Erza said with a smirk and a sarcastic eye roll.

"I don't do that!" Lucy protested but withered under Erza's knowing stare. After a few seconds, she muttered, "I just like their uniform." She tried to be convincing but her flaming face probably gave her away. Lucy sighed, forcing her blush to die down. She then put on a serious face and Erza quickly caught on and did the same.

"Did you find anything Shishou?" Lucy asked, her voice sharp and clear and her posture straight.

"Yeah. Going through all of the books in my archive was a real pain in the ass though. I better be getting some compensation for the effort I went through. You're lucky I'm so fond you, you little brat," Erza said. Although she sported an annoyed frown, Lucy could tell that the redhead meant what she said. Over the year, Erza really had come to care for Lucy and vice versa.

Lucy's eyes brightened and she beamed. "Thank you so much Shishou. I promise I'll thank you properly later."

They were talking about the issue regarding Shari's strange behaviour. Ever since Lucy had been turned into a vampire, she would sometimes get an irresistible thirst for blood. Of course, this was normal and it hadn't really been too much of an issue at first. But six months into being a vampire, Lucy started hearing Shari's voice rasping for blood and each time, the urge to bite into a person's neck became stronger and stronger. So much so that Lucy literally had to knock herself out to prevent from teleporting to the town and grabbing a random person off the street to suck dry. Eventually, it became too much of a concern and Lucy went to Erza for an explanation. When Lucy finished telling her what was happening, Erza had frowned and with an unusually serious face, began explaining.

_FLASHBACK_

"_The first thing you need to know is that vampires are creatures of evil. No matter how good a vampire behaves and nurturing they are towards others, they are still fundamentally 'evil'. It is in their nature to crave for human blood and wreak havoc onto the innocent and that's how vampires were like when they first started appearing. But time changes things and as the numbers of vampires grew, more and more started gaining resistance towards their nature and were able to suppress their blood thirst and live quietly among the humans. Vampires like me chose to seclude themselves and live quietly alone where they wouldn't cause too much trouble. _

_The second thing you need to know is that with great power comes an equally great consequence and price. The stronger a vampire becomes, the stronger their blood thirst. Since with greater power, one can cause greater destruction, vampires' natural instinct is to do exactly that. If you develop a strong resistance like me, then this shouldn't be much of a problem. However, in some extreme cases, some vampires start developing a second personality that actively tells the vampire to go out and cause devastation._

_If what I'm thinking is correct, this is what's happening to you. You hold a great amount of power within you. I could tell from the beginning. In fact, the power you hold is unimaginable and that is both a blessing and a curse. Because of the power you already held within you when I first gave you my blood, the vampire blood tainted that power and it became the manifestation of all the evil that a vampire possesses. To add to that, you are growing stronger each day and this is only causing the blood thirst to grow stronger. The only reason you have managed to resist this urge so far is precisely _**because**_ you are so strong. Like I said, your power is both a blessing and a curse." _

"_Isn't there…isn't there anything to stop the urges? I don't think I can hold them off for too long. Every time it comes, it feels like my head is splitting apart and I have to physically restrain myself from listening to the voice. Please… Shishou…make it stop. Please, I don't want to kill anyone," Lucy begged, her eyes filled with pain. _

_Erza sighed and looked at Lucy with an emotion that looked kind of like sadness. "Kid… I don't know if I can do much to help." _

"_Please, anything. Just please don't let me kill any innocent people," Lucy pleaded. She was desperate now. Whatever the solution was, she would do it. _

_Erza let out another sigh, but this time in defeat. "Okay, I'll search my archive for a solution. From what you've told me, your situation is basically the same as having a split personality inside your head. It's fundamentally different as it was not something born from the greatness of your power but it's similar enough for me to have something to work with. We don't have magic in this world but I'll try my best to work around that issue," she promised. _

"_Thank you, Shishou…thank you, Erza-san. I'll do anything to make it stop, even if it's risky and dangerous. Anything is better than killing innocent people." _

"_Kid, go to your room and get some rest. You can take a break from afternoon training if you want," Erza offered. _

_Lucy shook her head. "No it's okay. I'll just need around ten minutes to sort my thoughts out. I'll be in the training room after lunch, Shishou." With that, Lucy bowed slightly and walked out of the room. _

_END OF FLASHBACK_

"So what did you find, Shishou?" Lucy asked.

Erza tossed Lucy an old book. Its cover was scratched and the pages were worn out but the writing remained clear and legible. Lucy flicked open to the bookmarked page where the chapter's title read: Dealing with the second personality. (And the shortcut on how to conquer it) She quickly skimmed over the contents of the chapter that described the different stages one will experience with the second personality as well as the methods to ignore the voices. What caught her interest, however, was the last page of the chapter that had a set of instructions on how to 'conquer' the second personality/voice, or in other words, get rid of it.

When she finished reading over the instructions for the fifth time, Lucy raised her hopeful eyes to meet her Shishou's. "Will this really work?" she asked.

"That's the problem. The book is old and there is no account of anyone ever using the method so it's unsure whether it would work or not."

"We'll just have to try it out and see."

"Before we jump onto planning, I want to check that you realise there are risks to doing this. Worst case scenario, you could end up dying, or, possibly even worse, the voice can end up taking over your body and it can go on a rampage. If that happens, I will not hesitate to kill you. Are you sure you want to take the risks?" Erza asked gravely.

Lucy nodded determinedly. "I am aware of the risks and I still want to try the method. If the scenario Shishou mentioned does happen, please do not hold back on me. And please stop Ria from doing anything rash. But this is only IF that scenario happens, which I'm sure it won't."

Erza shrugged. "Okay brat. It's your decision and I won't stop you. It will probably take me around a week to prepare so until then, you'll be training by yourself. Make sure to train extra hard since you'll need all the experience you can get to go through with the method from the book. Now get to work."

"Yes sir," Lucy said with a grin as she saluted. She quickly darted out of the room before the pair of very sharp scissors that Erza had sent flying her way could lodge itself into her neck.

"Watch it you little shit, you've been getting a bit too cheeky recently!" growled the voice from behind the closed door. Lucy laughed as she sprinted away.

000

"Hey kid, stop daydreaming. Are you ready to do this?" Erza asked.

Lucy eyed the gold ceremonial dagger Erza was holding in her hand. Its blade was long and slightly curved but its point was sharp and pointed. On the surface of its blade, some ancient writing was encrypted neatly in a fancy font and the handle was covered with expensive leather.

"Can we go over this again before we start? I just want to make sure that this will be safe," Ria jittered nervously from the side-line. The girl had suspected that something was going on and she had insisted on following Lucy. When she first heard about the plan from Erza, she had been dead against it but Lucy had pleaded and Ria gave in but with the condition that she stayed by Lucy's side throughout the whole thing.

Erza clicked her tongue in irritation. "For fuck's sake, how many times do I have to repeat myself? Fine. This dagger is coated with my blood and a deep sedative made from very rare herbs that I went through lots of pain to find. I will stab this dagger into Lucy's heart and it will pull her into a deep semi-unconscious state where she will meet the voice in her head in an empty dimension within her brain. They will battle it out and the brat will hopefully win and get rid of the voice once and for all. She needs to get the voice to take on a human shape and then stab the heart. That's the only way to defeat the voice. The end. Oh and she only has twenty four hours to do this until my blood becomes ineffective and she dies. Since this is inside her brain, she will not die if she is stabbed or otherwise but if she fails to defeat and kill the voice before the time limit, the voice will completely take over Lucy's body and possibly go on a murderous rampage. If that happens, I will hopefully swiftly kill her before anyone is hurt. That's about it. And don't you DARE ask me to repeat that again."

Ria made this sound that sound like both a screech and a sob. "How can you say all that so casually? This sound _incredibly _dangerous. Lucy could die you know? Aren't at least a little worried about that?"

"I'm not worried because I know that the kid will win. Now if that's out of the way, shall we start? Tomorrow is her birthday and we want to get this over with as soon as possible," Erza said, glancing at the clock that read nine o'clock. They would have until nine o'clock the next morning to do this. Lucy would still have plenty of time to enjoy her birthday. Erza walked over to Lucy who had lied down on a couch in one of the guest rooms. She raised the dagger above Lucy's heart and looked into Lucy's eyes.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

Lucy reached out to hold onto the dagger. She turned to send Ria a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't worry about me. Once I'm done, we can go to town and do something fun. So wait for me to wake up okay?"

"Okay," Ria said. Although there was still a ton of worry in her voice, she nonetheless smiled back as best as she could.

Feeling satisfied that she was able to reassure her friend, Lucy stared back into Erza's eyes and nodded. "I'm ready."

Erza breathed out, her eyes finally showing the concern she had been hiding for the last few hours. "You better come back, brat. Don't you dare waste all the training I gave you. Once you come back, I'll even help you find a nice girl to hang out with, for your birthday present. How about it?"

"I said I'm not like that," Lucy muttered. "But thank you Shishou. I'll definitely win and come back."

With one last smile, Lucy tugged down the knife and gasped as it pierced her heart. Her head started buzzing and her eyelids began to droop. The last thing she saw was her Shishou's worried face.

"You better come back, kid," she heard Erza whisper before everything became black.

000

When Lucy opened her eyes again, she noticed that she wasn't in the guest room anymore. And as she looked around, she realised that she wasn't really _anywhere_. For every direction she looked, all she saw was white that went on forever and nothing else. Then she remembered her Shishou's words and wondered if this was the empty dimension inside her brain. She had always thought that she was an imaginative person but the blank white slates staring back at her said otherwise. But then again, it was like looking at a clean canvas: despite not having anything there yet, it held endless amount of potential to be something incredible.

"Kill…"

The voice was quiet but it was enough to alert Lucy to its presence. She swivelled around and found herself staring at _something_. It wasn't quite a human but neither was it an animal or a beast. In fact, Lucy didn't know how to exactly describe its appearance other than to say that it had none. It seemed to shift every five seconds as if looking for a suitable form to settle into. The only thing that was definable about the thing was that it was entirely silver and it pulsed with power and energy. But most importantly, it felt familiar.

Lucy's breath caught in her throat. "Shari…?" What…"

The thing stopped shifting when it heard Lucy's voice. Slowly, as if responding to her voice, it stretched upwards and slowly started taking shape, growing two legs and two arms and a body with a head attached. Lucy gaped as she stared at what appeared to be an exact copy of her but made out of silver. Well, as least she was able to get the voice to take on a human form otherwise this would be completely hopeless. Its eyes gleamed silver and its hand outstretched. A part of its finger dropped away and morphed into a long sword that cackled with energy.

"Kill… Kill…you…." Her clone rasped, grasping the sword and pointing it at Lucy. The blonde mage tried creating her own sword but nothing happened.

_Looks like I can't use my silver magic, _Lucy thought grimly. In fact, she shouldn't be surprised at all. Her very source of power had been Shari and now that the source of power had taken on a physical form and was standing in front of her, it shouldn't be shocking that she couldn't use her power. Still, not having any sort of weapon or power would be very disadvantageous, especially against an opponent who had access to an unimaginable amount of power. _Okay, think calmly Lucy, what should you do in this situation? _Then, a sudden thought struck her. This was inside her brain. If that was the case, then she should, in theory, be able to… She closed her eyes and concentrated. A too heavy sword would only slow her down but a lightweight would easily break. What she needed was a weapon with decent reach and easy manoeuvrability.

"Kill!" her clone screeched before dashing towards Lucy and swinging down her sword. Just in time, Lucy felt a comfortable weight settling in her hand and she brought up her newly acquired spear to block the sword that was mere inches above her face. She pushed against the sword and used the momentum to spring back and gain some distance. She twirled her spear around experimentally, noting that the end with the arrowhead was considerably heavier. She would just have to compensate for that. She dashed forward and willed herself to teleport. Thankfully, it worked and she appeared behind her clone. She thrust her spear towards her clone's heart but it ducked just in time and Lucy was only able to stab through its head. She cursed and pulled back, watching in fascination as the wound in her clone's head closed itself up. The clone swivelled around, dragging its sword behind it and bringing it up for a slash. Once again, Lucy blocked with her spear and this continued for twenty minutes, the two exchanging slashes and jabs. They became a blur of silver and black and the only sound that resonated throughout the empty space were the sounds of metal clashing against metal and the screeching that followed as they grinded. The forces of their blows were so powerful that it created sparks of fire that illuminated their faces like a flickering flame.

They continued to fight like that for god knows how long. Lucy stopped counting the hours as the fight intensified. Lucy swiped the clone's leg and attempt to bring the spear down into its heart but it knocked the spear aside and did a grandiose backward roll to evade the attack. It grabbed its sword and swiftly aimed for Lucy's legs only to have the blonde mage jump up and onto the sword before springing off with a flip.

"Kill…" the clone growled. It flashed forwards and stabbed into Lucy before she could even attempt to defend herself. There was a hiss and a huge shockwave ran down the length of the sword and into Lucy. She screamed as her vision blacked from the intense pain. When the sword was pulled out, Lucy's body was slumped on the floor, still spazzing and twitching. She ground her teeth in determination and brought herself up to a pained crouch. Black spot danced in her vision but she ignored them in favour of picking up her spear with shaking hands. Her legs shook with strain and her brain was still feeling fuzzy from the shock. Lucy growled in frustration and stabbed her feet with her spear. She hissed in pain but she kept driving it into her feet until the sharp pain of the stab finally cleared the haze lingering in her brain. All the while, her clone continued to stare at her blankly.

Lucy pulled her spear out of her feet, ignoring the _squelch _it made and the burning sensation that soon started spreading from her open wound. She looked into her clone's eyes with contempt. "Shari… get your shit together. Shouldn't you be strong enough to resist the urges? Look at you, you're so pathetic right now, not that I can talk. But you, you're nothing but a mindless killing machine. How laughable is that? Come back to your senses!" she shouted before teleporting and stabbing into her clone's neck viciously. She instantly felt a sword driving itself into her stomach but she refused to let go. She yelled in a mixture of pain, anger and frustration as she drove her spear further and further into her clone's neck until it was pinned to the ground with Lucy hovering above. When she started feeling the sword pulling out, she quickly grabbed the sword with her left hand and kept it in place.

"You're not getting away this time," Lucy growled. She screamed as another wave of energy hit her from the inside, slowly tearing her body apart. She felt something running down from her eyes and from the dark red spot appearing on her sleeves, she knew that it was not tears but blood. It also trickled down from her mouth and she tasted the coppery sting it left behind. But even through the daze from the pain, Lucy continued to shout. "Get out of there, Shari! Hurry up and-" she coughed violently, sending a splatter of blood landing on the ground. "-come to your fucking senses!"

There was a tiny pause in her clone's movements and the shock wave died down for an instant. That was all Lucy needed. She pulled out her spear from her clone's neck and swiftly plunged it directly into its heart. The clone, as well as the sword buried in her stomach, burst into millions of silver particles and all rushed towards Lucy. The blonde mage felt a sense of déjà-vu as she remembered the day she had picked up the glowing book in her father's bookshelf and the strange voice that had entered her mind and made her go through so much pain. It was happening again except this time, it was a hundred times more painful. And this time, she felt memories of someone else rushing into her, as if they were her own. Even without being told, Lucy somehow knew that these were the memories of the voice in Lucy's head that she had named Shari.

She saw a world, filled with sin and plunged into darkness. She saw people pillaging the streets, ransacking houses and murdering each other left and right. She saw the dark sky, clouded with tainted sunlight and she felt the evil that flowed through this world. She watched as the people's sinful actions and negative thoughts tainted the magic in the atmosphere and she watched as all the tainted magic collected together and developed a consciousness. It had no name and it had no gender. The collected body of magic pulsed with silver light and purged the world into eternal sleep. Then, as the world crumbled, a rift in the space time fabric occurred and the body of silver magic was taken to another world. A world that was filled with hope and light, so unlike its original world. The body of magic lost all its purpose. The evil world had been destroyed so there was nothing left for it to do. But a man came along and introduced himself as Keine Heartfilia, a powerful mage excelling in binding magic. He sealed the body of magic into a book and promised that a day would come when it would meet someone compatible to fuse with and find purpose once again. She watched as the book was passed down the family, from one Heartfilia child to another. And she finally watched as a young blonde girl entered a library and pulled out the book, forever contracting herself to the silver magic. And finally, that's when vision ended and the pain stopped.

"_Thank you Lucy, you gave me purpose. But you have defeated me and my power will be completely yours. I will no longer be with you but I wish you the best of luck in completing your goals. Goodbye forever," _Shari's voice said before it faded away and disappeared for eternity.

Lucy closed her eyes tiredly. "Goodbye Shari. You were a good friend," she whispered.

000

"I think she's waking up," Ria fretted anxiously, glancing up at the clock that read eight forty seven a.m. They were close to the time limit and Lucy had been showing signs of consciousness ever since morning came.

"Just let her be, she'll wake up soon enough I'm sure," Erza grunted, leaning against the wall next to the couch.

Just then, Lucy jerked and bolted up into a sitting position. Ria sighed in relief and started flying over to her friend but she quickly stopped in her tracks when she saw a pair of glowing silver eyes staring blankly back at her.

"…Lucy?" Ria called out, feeling strangely terrified of her friend.

Lucy blinked slowly until recognition entered her eyes and she grinned. This should have been a sign that everything was okay but there was something off about Lucy's smile. It wasn't playful or warm or anything similar. It was almost crazed and sadistic and there was a hint of cruelness to the smile.

Lucy licked her lips and flashed her teeth, her pointed fangs gleaming somewhat sinisterly. "Ah, Ria… how have you been? I feel like drinking some blood, don't you?"

Erza frowned and pushed herself off the wall. "Oi brat, everything okay? You're acting weird."

Lucy hummed as she got up and walked towards the door. "What are you talking about Shishou? I'm perfectly fine. This is just how I am." She once again flashed a sadistic grin. "I think I'll go out for a little drink. I feel _really _thirsty tonight." With that, she walked out of the door and teleported away.

"Shit," Erza cursed. "Something's definitely wrong with the brat. What the hell's going on? She was supposed to wake up before nine, be perfectly normal without the voice urging her to kill people or wake up after nine and be a crazed blood thirsty monster. Not this weird in-between thing. Shit this is bad, I need to go after her."

"Wait, take me as well!" Ria called out.

Erza looked back sternly. "No, you stay here. The kid's in a dangerous state right now. I'll go and stop her." The redhead finished her order and disappeared instantly. Ria gave a shout of frustration and flew out of the door. Like hell was she just going to sit and twiddle her thumbs! Lucy was her best friend and Ria would never abandon her, no matter what.

000

Lucy whistled to herself, walking into the town. The sun was out and the weather was nice. For some reason, she felt incredibly elated and happy. Maybe it was due to the fact that it was her birthday. She should be celebrating with her friend but right now, she REALLY wanted blood. She'll hang out with Ria later.

She grinned as she came across a man nearby a library. Upon closer look, she vaguely recognised him. The man looked up and smiled as he saw the blonde mage approaching. Lucy's smile stretched widely. This would be an easy prey.

"Hey Lucy-chan! Great to see you doing well! Haven't seen you in-" he didn't get to finish his sentence as Lucy drove her hand into his heart. She then quickly pulled it out and laughed as blood spurted out and splattered her face. The red liquid felt warm and she delighted in seeing the life draining out of the man's eyes.

"Rest in peace, Rakael-san," she said before dropping the body to the floor. It was then that she heard a high-pitched scream from a middle-aged woman which caught many people's attentions. A crowd formed around to see what was going on and once they spotted Lucy standing over a dead man with blood running down her hands, a mass panic ensued. People screamed and ran away while some fainted on the spot. Others stood frozen in shock and fear. Lucy chuckled in amusement. Oh, this was just perfect. So many people for her to torture. She couldn't wait to see how some of their blood tasted like. Her silver eyes gleamed in excitement. Today was the best birthday ever.

000

Erza stood frozen a few meters away, watching the spectacle of Lucy killing an innocent man and thoroughly enjoying the act. She breathed in and out. This was bad. She could tell that Lucy was much more powerful right now and there was no chance of Erza beating her. It wouldn't be wise to blindly rush in. She turned around, blocking out the sounds of people screaming. She would have to head back to the castle and do more research. In the long run, it would save more lives if she finds a way to snap Lucy out of her state. And if it meant that some lives would be sacrificed in the process, then so be it. She clenched her fists. This was mainly her fault for not looking into the method deep enough to see other effects it could have on the person performing it. She would take full responsibility for this, but not until she finds a way to bring Lucy back. She remembered that there were some books on charms and sealing techniques buried deep within her archive. It was not exactly magic but it was similar. She could only hope that it would work.

000

Lucy frowned in disappointment as she stared at the messy corpses of dozens of townsfolk littering the ground. Sure, some blood had been delicious to drink but none of the kill had been thrilling or fun at all. She quickly grabbed the last person alive by their neck and bit into their vein. The person squirmed and screamed and Lucy quickly got rid of them by pulling her fangs out and breaking their neck. Geez, some were such a hassle to deal with. She looked around and smiled in satisfaction as she stared at the devastation she had caused. So much blood had been spilled that the ground might as well have been painted with red. It was a pretty sight indeed.

There was a quick intake of breath and Lucy snapped her head to see who the intruders were.

A slow grin took over her face when she saw Mirajane and her two bodyguards, Evangeline and Thomas. Mirajane was strong. She would be much more enjoyable to kill than the townspeople. She slowly walked towards the trio, her grin widening with every step and her eyes gleaming with anticipation.

"Good morning, Mirajane-san. Evangeline-san and Thomas-san too," Lucy greeted casually. "It's a nice day out for a walk isn't it? Are you here to see Shishou?"

Mirajane's eyes narrowed and she stepped forward protectively in front of her two bodyguards. "What's going on with you Lucy-chan? What happened?"

Lucy laughed, throwing her head back. "Nothing happened! I don't understand why everyone has been asking me that today."

Evangeline heaved and threw up behind Mirajane. "Did you…did you do that, Lucy?" she asked.

Lucy glanced behind her at the bloody forms of men and women of all ages. "Do you mean them? Why yes, yes I did. Wonderful isn't it?"

Evangeline's eyes widened and a look resembling betrayal entered them. Glancing at the bloodbath behind Lucy, she once again heaved up the contents of her breakfast. Thomas had already fainted by this point. Lucy smiled in amusement.

"Ah, speaking of which, I think it would be wonderful to add Mirajane-san as well. You're so beautiful, you'd be a lovely addition," Lucy said with a smile. She teleported forward and grabbed Mirajane's neck. She quickly sent a small jolt of energy down the girl's spine and to every inch of her body until the vampire was completely paralysed.

"Nooo!" Evangeline screamed and dashed towards Lucy, fury blazing in her blue eyes. Lucy chuckled and kicked the purple haired girl away, also paralysing her with a small amount of energy.

"…Eva-chan…get…away…now," Mirajane choked out. Lucy pouted, sad that the fight hadn't been as entertaining as she had anticipated. Oh well, she couldn't wait to get a taste of a vampire's blood.

Evangeline sobbed and screamed out desperately, begging for Lucy to stop. Lucy paid her no heed and plunged her silver knife into Mirajane's heart and twisted it painfully until the vampire drooped dead from blood loss. Lucy pulled out the knife and licked up the blood, humming at the pleasant taste. She glanced at Evangeline, who was still sobbing her eyes out. She sighed and walked over to the girl.

"Maybe you should take a break, Evangeline-san. Let's play again soon. I missed our chess matches," Lucy said with a smile.

The older girl snarled and directed her hatred filled eyes at Lucy. "Fuck you! I trusted you! And this is what you do! I'll kill you! I'll-" her sentence was cut short as Lucy knocked her out with a tap to her forehead.

"I like feisty," Lucy said with a grin. "But I don't like noisy."

"Lucy!" a small voice called out. It was quickly followed by a horrified gasp mixed with a gagging sound.

"Ria, I'm glad you decided to join me. Oh I know! How about we celebrate my birthday now! I've turned fourteen you know," Lucy said with a toothy smile. It soon transited into a smirk. "I know just the perfect place for us to go."

"Lucy! You're not in your right mind! Listen to me, someone's controlling you to do this. Snap out of it Lucy! Please, it hurts me to see you like this," Ria pleaded.

"Oh no, no one's controlling me, I can assure you. Now stop spouting nonsense and join me! You don't want to become a party pooper do you?" Lucy said with a cheerful laugh. She placed Ria on her shoulder and ventured deeper into the town. She sliced off a passer-by's head with a long blade and laughed in glee as the rest of the people screamed and scampered away. Ria tried not a puke from the disgusting scent of blood entering her nose.

"Stop it! This isn't you, please… Lucy!" Ria shouted desperately as she slapped her friend's cheek. Her vision swam with tears and heartbreak as she helplessly watched her crazed friend rampaging around the town and killing everything standing in her path, all the while sporting a sadistic grin. Men, women, elderly, children, teenagers. It didn't matter who they were, they were all struck down. Hours later, the every shop and resident in the small town was trashed and crimson red painted the walls and the streets. Ria hid away in Lucy's pocket, sobbing and begging everything to stop.

Lucy sighed as she dropped her knife. Killing mindless townspeople was starting to become boring as hell. Maybe she was killing them too swiftly. Would it be more fun to slowly torture them first and hear their delicious screams before killing them off? It certainly wouldn't hurt to try. Lucy hummed and stared into the distance. How far away was the next town again?

"Oi brat."

Lucy swivelled around, a wide grin stretching her lips. "Shishou! You're here too! Oh wow, I'm so happy you're here to celebrate as well. I thought you weren't going to come."

Erza stared back stoically, her expression giving away nothing. Despite the number of disturbingly murdered corpses lying next to her feet, she seemed unfazed. Lucy curiously glanced at the strange thing her Shishou was holding. Actually, upon closer inspection, it was just a normal pair of black headphones. Didn't people use them when they needed to block out the noise?

"Brat, listen carefully. I've researched a bit more and found that it's natural for the other personality to merge with the original when they are stabbed. I'm betting that that's what happened to you so the voice urging you to kill isn't just the voice anymore. It is literally a part of you. I then looked into sealing techniques and found one where you can seal the evil intent of a vampire but it will also seal most of your powers away along with the evil intent. You're ready to pay the price aren't you?" Erza said, stepping closer.

Lucy observed with an amused smile. "Shishou, why would I want to seal my powers away? I want to see more blood. I want to hear screams. Think of it as my birthday present."

Erza smirked. "Don't get ahead of yourself brat. I don't even celebrate birthdays!" she shouted before teleporting forward to stand directly in front of Lucy. The blonde mage giggled in glee and quickly formed a knife and stabbed it into her Shishou's heart. Erza gritted her teeth but she endured the pain to place the headphone over Lucy's ears.

There was an instant effect as the knife in Erza's chest disappeared and the silver in Lucy's eyes slowly faded away to their normal shades of brown. Those very eyes widened as Lucy fell to her knees. She stared blankly at her trembling hands that were coated with the blood of her victims. She took one look at her surrounding and hurled. She gagged as silent tears ran down her eyes. She remembered exactly what had happened. She had still been herself but at the time, there had been this strongest urge to go out and colour the streets with other people's blood. At the time, everything had seemed right and she had wanted it. It felt fun and thrilling to hear people scream as she took away their child, their lover and their family.

It was sick and twisted. _She _was sick and twisted.

She remembered Evangeline's screams as she took away Mirajane's life. Lucy choked. _Oh god. What have I done?! _

"…Lucy?" a small, timid voice filled with wariness called out. Lucy looked down and saw Ria cautiously peeking out. And god, was that fear in her friend's eyes? She had actually caused her friend to become scared of her. What kind of monster had she become?

And then there was her Shishou.

Lucy's head whipped to where Erza was lying, the wound in her chest still fresh and oozing with blood. "Shishou!" she screamed as she scuffled forward to kneel by her Shishou's side. She held back a sob as she stared at the unnaturally pale face her Shishou was sporting. The sight made her feel sick all over again. _God, I killed Shishou. I fucking killed Erza-san. _"Shishou…" she gasped, just wishing that she could just die.

Erza coughed violently before sending Lucy a weak glare. "Sh-shut up. You're bursting my eardrums. Be-besides, I didn't teach you to be a fucking cry-baby."

Lucy wasn't sure if she should laugh at her Shishou's typical behaviour even in her time of death or burst into another round of sobbing and wailing precisely _because _she was dying and it was all Lucy's fault. She opted for the second option, earning another glare from Erza.

"Look, I don't-" another series of violent coughing ensued. "I don't have much time so listen carefully. That headphone. It will seal your evil intent along with a lot of your powers as long as you have it over your ears. No one can remo-" a loud hacking noise. "-ve the headphone except for you. However, you can only take it off when you truly desire for it to happen deep in your heart. You shouldn't be able to feel it much since I casted a convenience charm over it so you can sleep while wearing it and you won't feel a thing. Consider it…consider it as my birthday present to you," Erza said before her voice became strained and a groan escaped her mouth.

Lucy choked on her tears. "I thought… I thought you didn't celebrate birthdays?" she said with an attempted smile that failed miserably.

Erza smirked weakly. "I'm making an exception for you brat. You better be grateful." Lucy could tell that her life force was starting to drain away. Erza's smirk dropped and she looked up at Lucy with a serious expression. "However, there is one thing you need to know. Although you can replace the seal once you take it off, every time you take off the seal, you… the sealing power will be considerably weaker until it becomes completely useless."

Lucy nodded. "Thank you Shishou, for everything," she said, her voice thick with emotions. She could hear Ria crying as well from her pocket and she instantly felt a stab of guilt.

"Yeah, yeah. Happy birthday Lucy. And don't you dare beat yourself up over this or I will… come back from the dead…to…kick…your…ass…" Erza's voice trailed off weakly until her body became completely limp and her skin turned eerily cold. And with a stern promise to herself that this would be the very last time she cried, she let out all the fear, sadness, self-loathing and guilt she felt in a one, long, massive and heartfelt sob.

Once she was able to stop her tears, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve and stood up, her resolution made and her goal clear. Despite the guilt and disgust she felt for herself, she still remembered the promise she had made with Erza. Determination burned in her eyes and she clenched her hands.

"Ria," she called out softly.

"Yeah?" came the shaky voice of her friend.

"Are you scared of me?"

"No," came the firm reply.

"Do you find me disgusting and despicable?"

"No."

"Do you hate me now?" Lucy asked, her voice cracking.

"…no. You'll still be my best friend whatever happens and I'll always love you as a friend."

Lucy inhaled deeply. "I'm scared of myself and what I did today. I fucking hate myself so much I could throw myself off a cliff and die. But most importantly, I'm really disgusted at myself for even wanting to go back home. Even after everything I did, I still find myself wanting to meet my family again and to find my happiness again. I'm so selfish aren't I? I killed all these people- people who had family- and I took away their happiness mercilessly yet here I am, wishing for my own. I'm the most despicable person you'll ever meet, Ria, and I won't blame you if you decide that you don't want to be my friend anymore. I'll understand. I don't want you to start hating me when you see how despicable I am," she said with a soft voice.

"Lucy, you know that I'll _never _abandon you," Ria said. It was simple but it answered all of Lucy's silent questions.

"Thank you," Lucy said, hot tears running down her face.

"Yeah. We'll get through this together. Now, do you know how to travel to another world now?" Ria asked.

Lucy nodded. "I have a vague idea. It might not be accurate and it probably won't take us to Earthland until I properly master the technique. But it should at least take us to another world. All I have to do is do the same thing for when I open my pocket dimension except I pour all the magic I have into the crack until it gets big enough for us to get through. Simple right?"

"You make it sound so easy. But we should hurry before the vampire hunters come and start making a scene," Ria said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Lucy muttered, staring at the town she had completely massacred. A part of her knew that she should stay and take all the punishment for her sins but a bigger part of her was selfish and wanted to get away before her chance at meeting her friends again could be ripped away from her.

She smiled tiredly at her friend. "Shall we go, Ria?"

000

_Three years later. Year X784_

"This is Earthland. It looks a lot like our last world doesn't it?" Lucy said, taking in the familiar surroundings.

She smiled. _I'm back. _

000

_Present day with Fairy Tail. _

When Lucy finished telling her story, a thick silence followed and everyone seemed to be thinking with an unusual level of seriousness. But then again, she did just tell them that she was a mass murderer who went on a rampage killing everyone in a small town. Maybe this would be the point where she gets kicked out of the guild.

Looking around the circle, she caught varying degrees of emotions. Some seemed to pity her and she supposed she could deal with that. Others seemed contemplative, just thinking things through. She was glad to find that there was no expression of hatred or disgust or, even worse, fear.

Lucy sighed. "I understand if I no longer have a place in the guild," she said sadly. What would she do if she was kicked out though? Without Fairy Tail, she was nothing.

Makarov stood up, gaining everyone's attention. Lucy looked into his eyes and saw wisdom far beyond what she could comprehend. "We have all done things in the past that we aren't proud of. And each of us all has our burdens that weigh us down. But Lucy, look around you. You aren't alone anymore. You have your friends; you have your family that cares deeply about you and they are here to help life some of that burden. Whatever you have done, there is no changing that you are part of our family and that will continue to stay true. Lift your head and stand proud as a member of Fairy Tail. Don't let what you have done in your past define who you are now. Right now, you are simply Lucy Heartfilia, member of Fairy Tail and one of my dear children. And that's all that matters," he said.

As she looked around the circle, all her friends sent her a warm smile, as if affirming what their master had said. She saw the support they held for her and she smiled back with a sense of contentment and happiness. This was what she had been looking for. And she had finally found it.

"Thanks everyone. I love you guys so much," she said with a lopsided grin. She glanced at Evangeline and noticed the girl's fiddling. Figuring that Evangeline probably wanted to talk to her alone, she announced to the guild that she would take the purple haired girl away for a private talk.

"I'll be back soon," Lucy promised Ria and her guild mates before teleporting away to a secluded area with Evangeline who had Thomas once again slung over her shoulder.

"You probably want to know how I got here huh?" Evangeline asked. Lucy nodded. She was rather eager to hear how the girl had managed to perform such a feat.

"Well, contrary to what you think, Arais isn't devoid of magic. I searched throughout the whole continent's archives for information on magic and I found an ancient book written by a secret magician name Rugulus. Although our magic isn't as accessible as yours here in Earthland, it isn't impossible. One particular theory he had was that there were millions of parallel dimensions and he did many experiments to open up a portal. He failed all of his experiments but towards the end, there was one theory he didn't get to try and it involved the high vision of the vampires. As you know, most vampires can open up a pocket dimension. To open up a portal to another world, Rugulus figured it would be a similar process. You first find the crack in space time fabric and use a highly condensed potion to create a huge explosion enough to blow up a whole mountain. It took me three years to find all the ingredients and to find a trace of your blood I could use to bind your presence to the spell to guide me to the world where you were at. And it worked," she finished.

Lucy hummed and nodded, thoroughly fascinated. She had never known such a way existed. She levelled her eyes to meet Evangeline's.

"What are you planning to do now?" Lucy asked.

Evangeline shrugged. "I'm taking Thomas and I'm going back to my own world, I guess. Besides, I'm planning on helping the other vampire guys on holding back the vampire hunters. After that mess you caused, they've been on our case more than ever. Something about 'evil creatures finally showing their true colours'."

Lucy dropped her eyes sadly. "I see, I'm sorry about that."

The older girl huffed, half in amusement and half in annoyance. "You really need to stop apologizing."

"Sorry," Lucy grinned.

Evangeline rolled her eyes good-naturedly before turning serious again. "This will be the last time we cross paths. Despite everything that happened, I wish you the best, Lucy."

"You as well, Evangeline-san. By the way, how are you planning to get back? I don't think there's a mountain to blow up around here," Lucy commented.

"Ah, I was hoping you would help out in that department," Evangeline said, sheepishly.

"Of course," Lucy replied immediately. She quickly opened up a portal. After many years of practicing, she had managed to perfect the technique and the intended location on the other side of the portal. The only drawback was that opening one portal was very draining and it typically took her around a week to fully recover all her magic.

"I guess this is it. Goodbye Lucy."

"Goodbye."

Evangeline stepped through the portal and Lucy watched wistfully as it closed up behind the girl.

"I hope you find your happiness as well, Evangeline-san," Lucy whispered.

And as if in reply, the wind picked up and the tree leaves rustled gently in the breeze.


	15. Fated meeting

Two months into rebuilding the guild hall and they were making good progress.

Despite the fact that the new design of the guild hall was considerably larger than the old one, they had finished building the frames as well as the foundation and were well onto their way of constructing the walls and finishing off the ground floor. Recently, a new request board was set up and Fairy Tail had officially started taking on jobs once again after their long period of hiatus. Also, a new bar was on its way and to the immense joy of Cana, it was planned to be even grander than the one they previously had. As if Fairy Tail needed any more excuses for them to throw random large-scale parties and wreak havoc all over the guild hall.

Lucy idly sat at Fairy Tail's temporary bar and was quietly reading a book.

"Good morning, Lucy," a cheerful voice greeted.

Lucy looked up from her book and smiled at Mirajane. "Good morning, Mirajane-san. I see you're still busy with those documents," she said, eyeing the piles of paper Mirajane was currently sorting through.

Mirajane sighed. "Yes, this is taking a lot longer than I expected. But I think I'll be done soon." She shuffled through some papers and arranged them into a neat pile. "By the way Lucy, there's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while," Mirajane confessed, taking her attention away from her work.

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows and put aside her book. "What is it, Mirajane-san?"

Mirajane pouted with a small frown. "That!"

"Um…what? I'm sorry but I don't understand. What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

"The way you call me. You always call me 'Mirajane-san' when everyone else just calls me Mira. Why don't you do the same, Lucy?" Mirajane asked with a small tilt of her head.

Lucy opened her mouth to reply but immediately closed it when she realised that she had no valid reason. In fact, now that she thought about it, why was she still calling her friends' names in such a formal manner? Lizzy had taught her to be respectful to other people but the Fairy Tail members were practically her family so she should have dropped the honorific a long time ago. She supposed it all boiled down to it being a habit. Habits were hard to break and she didn't think she would be breaking this one anytime soon.

"That's 'cause Lucy's a real freak about being polite to other people. The only people she drops the honorific for are me, this other girl you don't know about and people she's REALLY mad at. Like, I'm talking about murderous, 'I want to cut you into unrecognisable pieces' kind of rage. Thankfully that doesn't happen often though it did happen with Phantom Lord's guild master but I think that was more of a 'in the heat of the moment' kind of thing," Ria explained as she rolled around on the table's surface.

"Oh I see. Then in that case, why don't you try calling me 'Mira-san'? That's less of a mouthful to say," Mirajane suggested to Lucy with a smile.

"Um…okay, if that's what you want…Mira-san," Lucy said, testing out the new nickname.

Mirajane nodded in approval. "See? That's sounds so much better. Anyway, I've noticed that you haven't been going on many jobs lately. Do you still have enough money for rent?" she asked, going back to sorting her files.

Lucy sighed and put her book back into her pocket dimension. In all honesty, she had been itching to go on a mission for a long time but she didn't want to slip away while everyone else was working so hard to help rebuild the guild hall. Besides, it wasn't really interesting to go alone.

"I have wanted to go on a mission for a while," Lucy confessed. "But I don't think it'll be much fun if I go alone. Currently, I still have enough money to last at least five months in Fairy Hills but I do need to earn more money for other expenses."

Mirajane hummed in agreement. "Hm…yes, I guess you're right. It never hurts to save up any extra money. If you don't want to go alone, why don't you ask Natsu and Gray to come with you? They've been acting restless for a while."

Lucy turned around and watched as the boys fought over who had destroyed the most balls on the pool table. Soon after, they started punching each other's face and their usual brawl broke out once again.

Lucy turned back to Mirajane. "Yes, indeed. But when I go on jobs with them, I never get the appropriate reward money because they destroy a lot of stuff and we always end up paying for the damage. It's like they get a thrill from destroying things," Lucy complained.

"That can't be," Mirajane said with a smile.

"Yeah, they're not like you, Lucy," Ria added.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Lucy asked as she narrowed her eyes.

"It means exactly what I said. You love destroying things, don't lie. I know how much you secretly enjoy watching Natsu, Gray and Erza going around and wreaking havoc."

"My, is that true Lucy? I thought you were more of a level-headed kind of person," Mirajane asked with a playful twinkle in her eyes.

Lucy hung her head shamefully. "I hate to say this but yes. I do actually enjoy watching houses crumbling down and explosions wiping a mountain off the face of Earthland. Of course, as long as no innocents are being harmed, which is not often," she admitted. It was kind of like a guilty pleasure she had developed ever since joining Fairy Tail. Not many knew of her secret enjoyment and she had wanted it to stay that way but her so called best friend just couldn't keep her mouth shut. She sent a sideway glare at Ria who turned away with a cheeky smile.

"Looks like Fairy Tail really is the perfect guild for you then," Mirajane said with a small laugh. She didn't even seem the slightest bit disturbed at Lucy's admission.

Lucy shrugged with an embarrassed smile. "But honestly, I do want to get through at least one job without causing any damage."

"Hm… in that case, I have just the perfect job for you. It's pretty relaxed and you won't have to worry about destroying anything," Mirajane offered with a blinding smile. "The Selazade theatre group has asked for mages to use their magic and help enhance the actors' performance. It's in Ghost Lotus Street which isn't too far away from here. So what do you say?"

Ria jumped up immediately. "Let's go! I'm so boooored. I feel like I'm about to die if I don't do something interesting."

Lucy considered her options. Mirajane was right about the job being relaxing. In fact, it sounded as if they wouldn't be doing any real work at all. Plus the reward would be worthwhile. It wasn't as if they were doing anything that warranted violence so the opportunity to completely dismantle the theatre building was slim. And she wasn't exactly doing anything productive by sitting on her ass and reading a book all day.

After contemplation, she gave a nod. "Yes, that'll be great. Thank you, Miraj- um… I mean, Mira-san," she said, quickly correcting herself.

Mirajane clapped her hands cheerfully. "That's great. I'll make a note of that! In fact, you can go to the theatre today."

Lucy once again gave Mirajane her thanks and approached the Ice mage and the Fire Dragon Slayer. Gray was in the process of stripping his pants when Lucy quickly intervened by grabbing his arm and prying it away from his belt.

"Clothes, Gray-san," she reminded.

Gray looked down at his bare chest and his eyes bulged. "Shit! Not again!" He quickly scrambled to pick up his shirt and pulled it on. He joined Lucy and Natsu once he was fully clothed.

"So, what's up, Luce?" Natsu asked, cracking his knuckles. "Are you finally up for a fight?"

"No, but maybe some time in the future. And 'Luce'?" she asked.

Natsu shrugged. "I dunno. I thought that it would be a sick nickname. Plus it's easier to say. Why, don't cha like it?"

"Hm… I suppose that's fine. Anyway, I was wondering if both you and Gray-san would like to come on a job with me. Of course, I will be asking Erza-san as well."

Natsu grinned. "Yeah, sure! I'll quickly call Happy as well," he said jogging away. When Gray also nodded his consent, Lucy walked over to Erza who was overseeing some of the construction work and asked the same question.

"Yes, that sounds like a great idea. I've been meaning to go on a mission recently but never found the time to look for one. And Natsu and Gray are coming too, you say?" Erza asked.

"I thought it would be like the Lullaby incident where we teamed up. I think the four of us, along with Happy and Ria, make a great team," Lucy explained.

"Hm… yes, I have noticed that our teamwork was rather good considering it was our first time working together," Erza agreed.

Lucy, Ria and Erza soon met up with Gray and Natsu, who had brought Happy along.

"Where are we going?" Happy asked jovially.

A small smirk snaked its way onto Lucy's face. "To the train station," she said.

Everyone laughed as Natsu let out a loud groan.

"You're evil," the Dragon Slayer muttered as he trudged after Lucy.

The blond mage merely smiled in response.

000

"I'll…never…take a train…ever again…" Natsu groaned out from his position on the ground, his face an uncomfortable shade of green.

"Natsu's reached his limit," Happy said, struggling to pull his overgrown friend away from the steps of Onibas train station.

"Now, now, Natsu-san. We have a full day ahead of us. We can't afford to lie on the ground all day," Lucy said as she took in her surroundings. The Ghost Lotus Street, being a merchant street, was busy and bustling with people and salesmen. Each side of the street was lined with all sorts of stores and buildings, each attracting many customers with their lively signs and promising slogans. From where she stood, Lucy could already spot at least ten different restaurants and five gambling places.

"Hmmm…this does seem like the kind of place where a theatre would be," Gray commented as he looked around. "Well, it's good that the atmosphere is lively, seeing that we'll be responsible for making the play more exciting with our magic."

Erza cleared her throat. "AH- AH- AH"

Lucy smiled. Despite the girl's usual stern and strict attitude, Erza was really easily excited. Lucy had quickly learned that the requip mage was almost childish when it came to some things, easily getting excited at small and strange things that other people would hardly care about. In this regard, this Erza was vastly different from the Erza she knew on Earth. The Erza Scarlet on Earth, despite her warm and kind nature, always maintained a composed attitude and never got hyped up about anything. She was always the calming presence and the anchor to the wildly rocking ship that was Fairy Tail. But this Erza on Earthland, on the other hand, fully enjoyed herself with her friends and joined in on all their misadventures. She actively joined other members in wreaking havoc and bringing down buildings. She was easily excitable and had little patience when she was rushing. At first, Lucy had thought the two to be exactly the same. But as she spent more time with Earthland's Erza, she started noticing these differences until they became so big and distinguishing that she no longer considered them to be the same person.

"We're not performing, Erza-san," Lucy reminded. "We're only supposed to help with small things."

But Erza wasn't listening. She continued her vocal exercises, trying out difference tones and volumes with vigour. She seemed completely oblivious to the world around her. Lucy smiled. It was an endearing sight, to see how badly Erza was hiding her hopes of performing on stage. They walked through the street until they reached a relatively secluded area where a massive building stood tall and proud. Six tall pillars lined the front of the building and in the middle was a large wooden door.

Natsu craned his neck upwards. "Wow, it's huge!"

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

They entered the open doors and looked around the interior. The ceiling was carved with intricate patterns that seemed to go on forever and whenever they talked, an echo responded. A man suddenly popped out from behind a pillar. He was small and had small moustaches under his nose.

"Um…are you members of Fairy Tail? I'm so glad you responded to my request," he said. "My name is Labian and I'm the manager of this theatre group."

"Yes, we'll be happy to help with anything during the performance, Labian-san" Lucy said with a friendly smile.

Labian shifted with a nervous smile. "Ah yes, about that…a little hitch came up. You see, only recently, all the actors left this theatre group because someone gave our performance a bad review and they were worried that their reputation were going to be stained if they stayed. I left my job ten years ago to chase my dreams and due to this, my wife left me. I'm left with only this theatre! I'm truly thankful to you guys!" he shouted with a sob.

Gray sweatdropped. "What are you thankful about? We haven't even done anything."

"It's as I said. If you guys haven't come, this theatre would have to close down. I'm really thankful," Labian said.

At this, Erza coughed, a small gleeful smile gracing her lips. "Hu, I thought it was something big but it's only this, huh? If you need actors, there's one right here!" she said, gesturing towards herself. Her eyes were sparkling in excitement.

"She's shining!" Gray exclaimed.

"I was right about doing voice practice earlier," Erza said with a self-satisfied smile.

"She's really desperate to perform, isn't she?" Ria said.

"In that case, Erza-san can be the prince and I'll be the damsel in distress!" Lucy offered, her eyes also sparkling, but for a different reason altogether from Erza's. Her eyes grew distant as she fantasied herself being the helpless maiden and Erza dashing in to save her from the evil dragon. And then, they would kiss with the sun setting in the background and… "Hehehe…"

"Lucy's shining as well! She must be really excited for the play as well," Happy observed.

"No, Lucy's just being the lecherous pervert, as usual," Ria said. In the background, Lucy gave a delirious giggle. "Hear that? She's probably imagining something inappropriate."

"Hey, barbeque vegetables or barbeque fruits, which one should I perform?!" Natsu shouted, springing up from his seat.

"There's no such play, Natsu," Happy said.

"Isn't that just what you want to eat?" Ria deadpanned.

"We won't let your dream end," Gray said, being the only helpful one in this current situation.

"Everyone…" Labian said with tears in his eyes. Suddenly, his expression transformed into a one of indifference. "Whatever, if you guys want to do it, then do it. Che…amateurs," he said with a click of his tongue.

"What's with that change of attitude?" Gray said with a sweatdrop. Nonetheless, he took the script and read over it. Erza made a hasty grab and flicked through it with sparkling eyes.

"The script's really overboard…" Gray commented. On the other side of the room, Erza was already practicing some of the lines.

"Well, I guess we should start practicing," Ria said. "Lucy! Snap out of it and get to work!"

000

"Why are we going a theatre group again?" Cana grumbled as she was led down the Ghost Lotus Street. "I could be at a bar and drinking some booze instead."

A melodious laugh escaped the girl who was pulling Cana along. "Isn't that what you always do? We're going to the theatre to watch the play and support our friends."

"I thought they were only doing the special effects or something," Cana said.

"That was the plan but I heard that the actors quit so Lucy and the others are standing in for them. Isn't it great?" Mirajane said with a radiant beam.

Cana averted her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I still don't see why you had to drag me along though."

Mirajane put a finger to her chin in a contemplative manner. "Hm… everyone else was on a job and I thought it would be good for you to take a break from drinking for a while and do something fun," she said brightly.

Cana rolled her eyes, despite the small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Whatever," she sighed. Once Mirajane had her mind set on doing something, there was no way Cana could persuade her otherwise. She should have expected this from the takeover mage.

They soon arrived at the theatre where many people were already filing into the building.

"Holy shit, that's a lot of people," Cana said.

"The leaflets did look very promising," Mirajane said as she led them into the performance hall and took a seat. The curtains were still down, indicating that they still had some time before the beginning of the performance.

"The stage is pretty big. I wonder if Natsu and others know what they're doing," Cana said glancing up at the stage.

Mirajane giggled. "I'm sure they've practiced a lot. Oh look, the curtain's rising," she said, quickly shushing the card mage.

The curtains rose to reveal one of Lucy's spirits, Luna. She started strumming her harp and sang in her angelic voice, immediately mesmerising the audience with her heart-warming song. Cana relaxed into her chair. If she was going to watch this show, she might as well do so comfortably.

"Far, far away, the story begins~ West country's prince fell in love with the enemy country's princess~ West country's prince~ to save the princess~ sets off for Death Mountain~" Luna sang. As she finished, Erza hopped onto stage, looking every part the dashing prince. Her expression was serious and grave and she looked to be in her character.

"Looks like Erza's the prince," Mirajane said with a small giggle.

"Yeah, I guess. So the princess is probably Lucy, huh? She must be happy about that," Cana said.

On stage, Erza raised her arm and looked up. "M-m-my…mymy my name is Fredrick~ Go…g-going to save…the prince…CESS!" Erza stuttered, the previous image she created for herself when she had entered the stage now completely shattered.

"Why is she so nervous?" Cana asked warily. "Is this show really going to be okay?"

"Shhh!" Mirajane nudged Cana. "Lucy's appearing. Ooh! This is the first time I've seen her wearing a dress! Doesn't she look really pretty?"

Cana decided not to reply to that comment.

Lucy was tied to a rope and was dangling a few feet above the air. "Aaa…Fredrick-sama. Save me, I've been captured by that Sieghart!" Lucy exclaimed in an obviously forced whiny and high pitched voice. Cana shuddered and prayed that Lucy would never use that voice when talking to her.

Just then, Gray entered, wearing a black suit and a white cape. "I am Julius! If you want that princess back, you have to defeat me!" he shouted, throwing his arms out.

"Who the heck are you?!" someone from the audience shouted. "What happened to Sieghart?!"

Cana groaned. "This is so bad. Why are all their acting shit?" She briefly glanced at her friend to see how she was reacting to all of this. Unsurprisingly, Mirajane seemed to be immensely enjoying the performance, judging from her bright smile and her twinkling eyes.

Meanwhile, on stage, Gray produced an intricate looking ice sword and pointed it at Erza. "Eat this! Ice sword!"

The audience 'oooh'ed, mesmerised by the display of magic. Gray's magic was very pretty if done right and Cana wondered if the entire selling point of this performance was the magic rather than the acting.

Erza produced her own swords. "Th-then I will use t-ten swords!" She raised a sword into the air and immediately, Gray jumped back, clutching his chest.

"Gwah!" he shouted as he crumpled to the floor.

"Oh…Fredrick-sama…hehe…thank…you," Lucy choked out between laughs. She was obviously amused by the performance so far and she was doing a crap job at hiding her amusement. In fact, Cana was pretty sure that Lucy was breaking character by doing this.

Erza fell on one knee and offered a hand to Lucy. "Yan-Yanderica Hime…please…have a baby with me," she said.

"You're rushing it, Fredrick!" someone from the audiences shouted.

"Oh my," Mirajane said with a small laugh.

"Of course! It'll be my pleasure Erza, I mean, Fredrick-sama!" Lucy exclaimed, as she freed herself from the ropes binding her. She clutched Erza's outstretched hands with sparkling eyes. "When shall we start?!"

"This is children appropriate, right?!"

Gray groaned from the floor. "You rejoice too soon! Go! My dragon servant!"

At his shout, a large figure of a dragon flew on stage, its mouth spewing flames. Form its mouth, Natsu's face could be seen and on top of the dragon was a suspicious cat-like shape holding onto a rope attached to the dragon.

"GWWWAAH I am the dragon that destroys all!" Natsu shouted from the dragon's mouth. The audience reared back in their seats nervously.

Gray rushed over to Erza's side. "Since it has come to this, we have no choice but to work together!" he said. Erza nodded.

Lucy stood up and stepped in front of Erza and Gray. "I'll kill, I mean, stall this felon! You two run away!" Erza and Gray quickly dashed away. Just then, Ria descended from the clouds and fluttered in front of Lucy.

"No, I will keep this beast at bay! For I am your guardian angel!" the small girl exclaimed. The audience muttered amongst themselves.

Lucy exaggeratedly fake-gasped. "Sieghart?!"

"Wait, wasn't Seighart the one who captured you?! What kind of guardian angel is she?!" the audience shouted.

"A good one!" Ria defended.

"You're not supposed to reply back to the audience, idiot!" Lucy hissed. She quickly put on a helpless face. "Oh, Sieghart, help me slay this dragon!"

Before Ria could say anything, Happy let go of the rope and dropped the dragon onto the stage. The dragon crashed onto the stage and shook the whole theatre.

"This isn't looking good," Cana said, eyeing the cracks that were forming along the walls.

"Argghh! That hurt!" Natsu yelled, spewing out more flames and causing havoc on stage.

Just then, the whole building collapsed around them, leaving the audience and the stage exposed to the scorching heat of the midday sun. Erza rushed onto stage and grabbed the dragon's mouth. She swung the dragon around in a show of power before throwing it off stage, completely ignoring Natsu's screams. Gray also ran onto stage and stripped his shirt, causing the temperature around him to drop a few degrees. The actors froze when they realised that the audience had been quiet for a while.

But all of a sudden, someone broke into loud applause and everyone else soon followed.

"Bravo!"

"Marvellous!"

"I've never seen such a theatre act like this before!"

The actors stood dumbfounded before quickly taking their places and bowing. Once the applause died down, they made a hasty retreat.

"Haa...that was really fun to watch, wasn't it Cana?" Mirajane asked with a cheerful smile. She had been laughing along with everyone else in the audience and her cheeks were hurting a bit.

Cana didn't really find it that funny seeing as it was basically the same thing she saw every day at Fairy Tail but she did like seeing Mirajane's smile. It was infectious and she couldn't help but also smile.

"Yeah, I guess. Though their acting was crap," she said.

Mirajane laughed. "Well, now that we're free, why don't we explore the street? I've seen many interesting shops on the way here," she suggested.

Cana shrugged. "Might as well," she said. Maybe she could sneak away at some point and get her daily dose of alcohol.

000

"Wheeew. Thank goodness that's finally over," Ria said as they walked down the Ghost Lotus Street. It was past evening and Labian had run them dry during the week after their first performance. He had been overjoyed at the positive reaction and had made them perform multiple plays more than three times a day. Honestly, it had been exhausting as hell but Lucy had enjoyed every second of it. Erza seemed to have also enjoyed herself, judging from the way she was still religiously going through vocal exercises.

"It was pretty tiring," Lucy agreed. "Shall we get something to eat?"

Ria nodded. "Yup! I feel like eating noodles."

Lucy was about to say that she strangely felt like eating noodles as well when a stand at the side of a street caught her attention. The signpost attached to the stand read: 'Try your luck and win six tickets to a resort hotel!'

"Hello, young miss? Would you like to try your luck?" the man running the stand asked as she approached. She eyed the rifle lying on the table and at the board behind. A paper was stuck to the board with a tiny red dot printed in the middle. "You just have to shoot a hole exactly through the red dot and get rid of it from the paper. You get two shots and if even a tiny speck of the dot remains on the paper, you lose. So, want to give it a try? Each try will cost you two hundred jewels."

Lucy shrugged and handed the man exactly two hundred jewels. She picked up the rifle and got into position. It wasn't as heavy as a real one but it was enough to hinder a normal person. She aligned the rear sight and the front sight and her eyes locked onto the target. She may not be as good as Bisca or Alzack when it came to shooting, but she could still hit the target just fine, no matter how far away it was or how small it was. With the current distance between her and the target, this should be a child's play.

She rested her finger on the trigger and pulled. Immediately a toy bullet shot out of the muzzle and whizzed towards the red dot. Lucy watched, fully expecting the red dot to completely disappear but to her surprise, the bullet shifted slightly to the left, just milliseconds before hitting the target. Lucy narrowed her eyes. While most human eyes would not have been able to catch the change, her eyes were far superior and she was certain she saw the bullet curve slightly to the left millimetres away from the target. She focused on the spot where the bullet had curved and her eyes widened when she saw a slight ripple of magic coating the paper. She frowned. So the man was cheating with magic. No wonder he seemed so confident that she would be asking for another go.

"Ah, that was unfortunate. Maybe you will get it on your next go," he said with a sympathetic voice. Lucy's trained eyes caught the small smirk on his face. She smirked back. Well two could play at that game.

"Hm…you're right. I guess I need to make some adjustments this time," she said, raising the rifle once more. This time, before she pulled the trigger, she concentrated some of her magic into the rifle and gave it more power. When she pulled the trigger, the force of the bullet flying out was so great that she was pushed back from the recoil. The bullet whizzed through the air and when it hit the layer of magic, it completely penetrated through it and ran straight through the red dot as well as the board behind the paper. The smell of wood and paper burning hit her nose and she smirked in satisfaction as she watched the gaping hole much larger than the red dot sitting in the place where the target used to be.

"Wh-wh-what…!" the man stuttered, looking back and forth frantically.

Lucy placed the rifle back onto the table and held out her hands. "Can I have my prize now?"

"Y-you cheated! How did you do it! You shouldn't have been able to-" he quickly clamped his mouth shut when he realised his mistake.

Lucy smiled. "Hm? What do you mean, I shouldn't have been able to? Are you implying that you have rigged the game, mister?"

The man sagged in defeat. "…no. Here's your prize. Six tickets to a resort hotel. Please take these and leave," he said, shoving six tickets into Lucy's hands.

Lucy pocketed them with a wide smile. She would be able to take her friends to the resort hotel. They could have a relaxing time there and she would be able to see Erza-san in a swimming costume. Life would be good.

"Thank you mister. Hope you have a wonderful day," she said cheerfully before walking away.

"You didn't need to go so overboard," Ria said.

"No, he needed to be taught a lesson. But still, thanks to him, I got us a relaxing trip to a resort hotel. Aren't I the best?" Lucy said with an excited smile.

Ria smiled back widely, her previous disapproving attitude all but forgotten. "Yup! I'm so excited! Let's go and quickly tell the others! I bet they'll be really pumped up for it as well!"

Lucy nodded. But she quickly froze when her stomach grumbled in protest. "Hm, how about after a bowl of hot noodle?" she suggested.

"Sounds great."

000

"Hm? What is it?" Erza asked Lucy.

They were back at Fairy Tail after a long week of endless performing and were generally happy to enjoy their free time relaxing and taking a well-deserved break.

"Well, I won a shooting game by a stand and got these tickets as a prize and I was wondering if you guys would like to come with me to the resort hotel," Lucy explained as she handed out a ticket each to Erza, Natsu, Gray and Happy. She kept the remaining two for herself and Ria.

"Oooh!" Natsu said, examining the ticket as if it was a strip of gold.

Gray's reaction was similar. "I've never been to such a ritzy hotel!" the ice mage exclaimed.

"Yay! We're going to the beach. I wonder how many fish I could catch!" Happy said.

By this time, Erza was already a few feet away from them with a large cart of luggage trailing behind her. She was wearing a flowery shirt and a pair of denim shorts and looked completely ready to hit the beach.

Once again her eyes were sparkling. "Why are you guys just standing around? Let's go!" she said.

"Well she's enthusiastic," Ria commented.

000

"Lucy! Come on! Join us and play hit the watermelon!" Natsu yelled, waving his arms.

Lucy was curled beneath a beach umbrella and she was intently watching the people passing by. "No thank you! I like sitting here and enjoying the view!" she shouted back.

"What's so interesting about the sand?!" Natsu asked in confusion.

Gray kicked his leg. "Idiot! That's not what she's talking about."

"Then what is she talking about?"

"Never mind. Just…forget it."

Natsu shrugged and bounded over to Lucy. "Come on! One game and I'll stop bugging you. And why the hell are you still in a t-shirt?"

Lucy sighed. "Because I feel better this way. And will you promise to leave me alone if I play one game of hit the watermelon?"

Natsu nodded with a grin. She stood up and took the offered blindfold. She put it over her eyes and held the large stick in her hands.

"Go to the right! The right! A bit left! Up! Few more steps forward!" Natsu instructed. Lucy blindly followed the instructions, not caring whether she was getting close to the watermelon or not. "Alright! There!"

She struck down and instead of the feeling of watermelon splitting into pieces; she felt the cracking of skull and heard the pained howl of a middle-aged man. She took off the blindfold and stared as the man rolled around in pain, clutching his bruised forehead. She shrugged and walked away. It was all Natsu's fault anyway and she was not going to feel guilty for it. The man was in too much pain to even pursue her. Still, it would be fun to take revenge on Natsu. She approached the boy with a menacing smirk.

"You'll be paying for that, Natsu-san," she said. She grabbed him and teleported to the sea. She quickly climbed onto a boat, dragging Natsu on board with her. She grabbed the reins to the fish and struck down twice, setting a high speed. She cackled when she heard the sick groans of her friend.

"I'm sorry…" He weakly offered. Lucy paid him no mind and continued the slow torture.

From the shore, Gray watched with cold sweat and felt sympathetic towards his long-time rival. "Lucy's a devil," he said to Ria who nodded in complete agreement.

Once Lucy had enough of torturing Natsu, she pulled to a stop and gathered everyone to play an intense game of beach volleyball. The teams were girls versus boys. The match involved fire, ice, the bursting of the ball due to a sword somehow making its way through it and several half humanoid spirits joining the fray. Towards the end, the game was completely ditched and turned into a full blown war between the two teams and in the case of Natsu and Gray, within the team as well. All in all, they had fun until the sun set. When people starting heading back inside, they did the same and dispersed to their individual rooms.

Later that evening, Lucy walked along the corridor, admiring the antique paintings that decorated the pristine white walls. She noticed that none of the paintings had even a speck of dust residing on its glass or frame. Each and every single one was polished to a meticulous level. She realised that the resort hotel they were at was rather famous and was therefore expected to be clean but damn her if she wasn't admiring the level of skill which the cleaners clearly had. A skill, she sadly admitted to herself, that she could never hope to achieve even if she were to dedicate her whole life practicing it. Idly, she wondered how she would fare as a typical household wife. She immediately cringed when she realised that she would probably make the worst housewife history would ever witness. She couldn't clean adequately to save her life, she didn't know how to cook and her children handling skills were less than desirable.

Lucy frowned. "Hey, Ria?" she called out to her friend who was gasping at the beautiful patterns engraved onto the ceiling.

"Hm?" Ria answered distractedly.

"Why is it that I suck at cooking and cleaning so much despite having travelled for so long? Aren't travellers supposed to acquire basic surviving skills?"

Ria flew down to Lucy's eye level. "Well, you had people doing that for you when you were a child and after that, you always had money to buy food at cafés or restaurants so you never felt a need to learn how to cook right? And when you didn't have enough money, Erza or Mirajane always fed you or you just chose to starve, which isn't very healthy. As for cleaning, it's because you're a lazy pig and you never bothered to clean for yourself. Poor Wendy had to clean your room and she was five years younger than you. You should be seriously ashamed of yourself."

"Why does it sound like you've been bottling that rant up for a long time?" Lucy asked dryly.

Ria huffed. "Because I have. Seriously, Lucy, I swear you have no feminine charm. In fact, as a human being, you have no charm."

"I have relatively big boobs," Lucy said with a small grin.

"Which you don't even you use to your advantage," Ria countered immediately.

Lucy blinked, the smile slipping off her face and replaced by a look of confusion. "Um…what? How would I use that to my advantage?"

Ria groaned. "Are you joking or are you just that dense? I can't even call you an idiot because I_ know_ that you're smart but sometimes, you're soooo clueless. You know what, never mind. You don't need to know. Oh look, there's our room."

Lucy looked and sure enough, the door to her and the other's booked room was just a few meters ahead. She smiled and quickened her pace. The reason she had come back to their room was to retrieve Erza who had opted to stay behind when Natsu, Happy and Gray had dragged her to check out the basement. It turned out that there was an awesome casino in the basement and she really wanted Erza to join them as well.

She opened the unlocked door and peered inside. "Erza-san?" she called out when she spotted the girl standing in front of a mirror and inspecting herself. Lucy briefly wondered why the girl was in her armour. They were at a _resort, _not some kind of infiltration job. The least Erza could do was to relax in normal clothing and have fun.

"There's a casino down in the basement. I strongly recommend that you come as well, Erza-san," Lucy said.

"Well, I'm not too fond of gambling," Erza confessed.

Lucy shrugged. "Neither am I but Natsu-san and Gray-san are already down there playing. I thought we could use this chance to relax for once."

Erza seemed to contemplate the option for a second before smiling. "Alright, if that's the case…" With a twirl, Erza requipped into an elegant yet rather revealing black dress. The material hugged the girl's every curve and ran down her legs like a flowing river. A long slit on the side left Erza's leg exposed and her back was mostly bare except for the criss-crossed lines. All in all, it left a lot of skin exposed. Lucy tried to pry her eyes away, she really did, but it was impossible. It was as if the dress had some kind of magnetic quality to it, constantly pulling Lucy's gaze back to stare at Erza.

"Woah… you look beautiful…and sexy," Lucy breathed out before she could even register the fact that her mouth was moving on its own.

"Lucy, you're drooling," Ria hissed into her ear. Lucy's eyes widened when she realised what exactly she had just said and she quickly averted her eyes.

In her haste to turn away, Lucy missed the faint blush that blossomed on Erza's cheeks.

Meanwhile, the blond mage was having an inner panic attack._ Shit, shit, shit! _She cursed in her mind. What the hell was she doing, staring at Erza so obviously like a perverted freak?! And how the hell did her mouth move without her permission? She was pretty sure that Erza had caught onto the desire in Lucy's tone. How the hell was she going to cover this one up? _Excuses, excuses… come on, brain, think! _

_Or you could just confess, _a rational and calm part of her reasoned.

_Hell no! What kind of timing is this?! _She argued back.

Thankfully, Erza spared Lucy from her predicament by simply saying, "Thank you," before walking ahead of the blond mage and exiting the room. Lucy sighed in relief. _Thank goodness she didn't think anything of it. _She hurried out of the room and walked over Erza, who was waiting for her a few steps away from the door.

They walked down the stairs to the basement and entered the underground casino. The first thing they came across was a bar that had fancy looking champagnes on the shelves. After passing all sorts of casino games, they settled down by a card table and joined the game. Roughly an hour later, Erza had won seven times in a row and was getting nearly all the coins. Her continuous success had gathered quite a lot of people to crowd around the table in shock and awe.

Lucy groaned and smacked her head to the table in defeat when Erza lay down her hand to show a royal flush with a smug grin.

"I give up!" Lucy said, laying down her cards messily. "How do you even manage to win so much?"

Erza smiled as she collected her winnings. "It seems that luck is on my side today. Right now, I feel like I can't lose, no matter who I'm up against."

"In that case, why don't we enjoy a special game?" a new male voice interrupted. Lucy looked up. A new guy who looked to be around their age was standing in front of them. His skin was dark and his hair was stick up in all directions. On his left earlobe was a cross earing hanging by a metal chain and beneath his lips was a small curvy tattoo. She had heard the same voice demanding for a dealer change but she had paid it no mind. But as she stared at the new guy standing before them, a sense of unease settled in her stomach. "Except we won't be betting with coins…" the guy continued as he shuffled his deck. He expertly flicked five cards onto the table, one after another. Lucy raised her eyebrow when she read the word 'death' spelt out from the letters on each card.

"Let's bet with our lives, Erza-neesan," the guy finished with a twisted smirk.

"Shou…" Erza muttered with wide eyes. Lucy frowned. She had never seen the requip mage so shaken up before. If even Erza was shaking, then this guy meant trouble. Without further thought, Lucy quickly teleported to stand behind the guy named Shou and grabbed his arms. Before Shou could even resist, Lucy twisted his arms behind his back and shoved him roughly against the table.

"Do you know this guy, Erza-san?" Lucy asked, tightening her grip slightly.

"He…he was my friend…" Erza stammered, clearly still shaken.

"It's…been a while, nee-san," Shou choked out as best as he could with his face pressed against the table.

"Shou…" Erza said. "You were safe?"

"Safe?" Shou asked with a harsh tone.

Erza stammered. "I-I…no, that not…"

Lucy twisted Shou's arms further upwards, putting enough pressure into her grip to stop the blood from flowing into his hands. Shou howled in pain.

"What do you want?" Lucy growled through narrowed eyes. She didn't know who this guy was and what his objectives were but if he was causing the usually unflappable Erza to be nervous like that, it was best for her to keep a hold onto him. Before she could ask anything else, the room suddenly became pitch black. Panicked screams erupted around them but Lucy remained still. When Shou tried to wriggle his way out of her hold, she merely pulled his arms and knocked the wind out of him by shoving his stomach against the edge of the table. His head banged against the hard surface and immediately, his body grew limp. The light switched back on and the anxious mutterings died down.

"Shou?" Erza said, looking at the guy who was slumped against the table.

Lucy glanced at him and shrugged. "It seems that I have accidentally knocked him out. In any case, do you know what's going on, Erza-san?"

Erza shook her head. Lucy sighed. "Should we take this outside for everyone else's safety?" she asked. Erza nodded and requipped into her usual Heart Kruez armour. Lucy looked around to see if Ria was nearby but stopped searching when she remembered that the small girl had gone to see how Gray and Natsu were doing. She draped Shou over her shoulder and, ignoring the murmurs of the people nearby, walked over to Erza and teleported them to the beach outside. Lucy carelessly dropped Shou onto the sand and stood over his body.

"What should we do with this guy?" she asked, pointing at Shou. Just then, she felt something coming towards her and she turned just in time to grab the rope-like projectile and lock it in place with her silver magic, suspending them in mid-air. A few more flew towards her and she did the same for them.

"Meow, I was wondering where you were and here you are," a feminine voice called out.

Erza's head snapped towards the direction of the voice. "Milianna?" she asked, her voice slightly trembling.

"That's right! Long-time no see Eru-chan! Are you surprised I can use magic now? So can Shou, you know, but looks like he got knocked out," Milianna commented. She had strange whisker-like things on her cheeks and wore cat ears although Lucy wasn't sure if they were real or magically added. Next to the cat girl, blocks shimmered into existence and slowly formed a guy who seemed to be completely made out of squares and cubes.

"Heh…you turned out to be quite the looker," the guy said, with a cigarette in his mouth.

"That voice… Wally?" Erza asked. "You can use magic too…"

"No need to be so awestruck," a new voice said. This time, it was much deeper and was clearly a guy's voice. The wind in a particular area picked up and a small sandstorm swirled around and when it died down, it revealed a largely built man crouching on the floor. "Once that guy gets his mitts on you, anyone can use magic. Right, Erza?" he said, rising to his full height.

"Simon?"

Lucy looked around. She probably shouldn't rush into a battle seeing that she didn't know her opponents' abilities yet though she could make a good guess.

"Erza-san, who are these people? They seem to know you," Lucy said, keeping an eye on the other three.

"They're…my former friends before I joined Fairy Tail," Erza said with a strained voice. She turned to face the trio who were watching their interaction. "What are you doing here?"

Wally smirked. "We came to bring you back," he said.

When Erza didn't budge, he pointed a gun at Lucy. "If you're going to be pig-headed about it…"

"Stop it!" Erza shouted, surging forward. She realised too late that Wally's arm had materialised behind her and his gun was pointed at her neck. He immediately pulled the trigger and Erza slumped forward, unconscious. Lucy quickly ran and caught the requip mage.

"Hand her over," Simon demanded.

Lucy stood her ground. She narrowed her eyes and began to think. These guys knew Erza and vice versa. It was obvious that they were a part of her past and they had some sort of falling out before she joined Fairy Tail. With their current level of power, Lucy could take on all three of them and probably win. However, what would be the point of that? In the end, they had come to retrieve Erza with a goal in mind and they were obviously up to something. Lucy felt as if she was missing something. There was a bigger picture involved and the magic council would probably be of no help.

Finally gathering her thoughts, she made a decision. It may turn out to be dangerous and she might be making a mistake by underestimating her opponents. But in the end, this was the only option she felt satisfied with and if she was refused, she would take down all three of them as a last option.

"I'll hand her over," she began, causing Wally and Milianna to look at her sceptically.

"You're going to betray Er-chan?" Milianna asked.

Lucy raised her hand for silence. "Firstly, I don't see why you should concern yourself over that, Milianna-san, seeing that you're the one trying to kidnap Erza-san. And secondly, I haven't finished my sentence."

She made sure to look into the eyes of each member of the trio before finishing her sentence.

"I'll hand her over," she repeated. "But in one condition."

Milianna opened her mouth to protest but Simon stepped forward, effectively silencing the cat girl.

"What's your condition?" he asked calmly.

Lucy smirked. "I want you to take me as well."


	16. Back to the Tower of Heaven

"Lucy."

The blond mage turned her head towards the voice in response. "Yes?"

"Where are we?" Erza asked, glancing down at the magic rope that was wrapped around her hands and feet. "Why are we tied up?"

So Erza was now fully awake. Lucy had started to become extremely bored from the long boat journey. Natsu wasn't there to entertain her with his motion sickness and her movements were restricted so the boat ride with nothing to do had been boring as hell.

"We are in the storage section of a boat and we are tied up because we have been captured by your friends. Well, former friends," Lucy explained. "I'm not entirely sure where they are taking us or what their motives are."

"I see," Erza said. She sighed, closed her eyes and leaned back against the pile of wooden crates that were placed behind her.

Lucy stared at the requip mage, feeling slightly guilty because of her lie. But as much as she wanted to be honest to her friend, she didn't think it would be a good idea to reveal that she had willingly let herself be captured by the four so-called 'friends' of Erza.

_FLASHBACK_

"_I want you to take me as well."_

"_What?!" Miliana asked incredulously. "Of course no-" _

"_Is that all?" Simon asked. _

_Lucy stared unflinchingly into his eyes and shrugged. "Yeah. No catch, no tricks. You can tie me up and restrain me as much as you want and I'll promise not to try anything as long as you don't harm Erza-san. All you have to do is take me along with Erza-san and I won't put up any resistance. If you don't agree…" another shrug "I'm afraid I will have no other choice but to take you down." _

"_Meow, Simon, you can't possibly consider the offer! You know that our job is to bring Er-chan back with us to Jellal at the Tower of Heaven. We can't bring this girl as well!" Miliana protested. She turned to Wally, the block guy, for support. "Right, Wally?" _

_Wally lit another cigarette and placed it in his mouth. "Don't get your feathers ruffled too much, Miliana. Doesn't sound like a terrible offer. I'll leave the decision to you, Simon." _

_Simon nodded and turned back to face Lucy. "In that case, you have yourself a deal. Miliana, tie her up with your ropes." _

_Miliana huffed. "Fine! Meow! But only because I want to get back as soon as possible and play with the cute kitty," she said as she approached Lucy. A glowing orange rope shot forward and wrapped itself around the blond mage. Lucy watched as Simon carefully picked up Erza and carried her in his arms. Shou was slung over Wally's shoulder and Lucy soon felt herself being shoved by Miliana. _

"_Oh, and one more thing," Lucy called out. Simon stopped and looked over his shoulder with a questioning gaze. _

"_What is it?" he asked. _

_Lucy hardened her gaze. "Don't tell Erza-san about this." _

_There was a pause as Simon regarded her expression with searching eyes. A second later, he nodded. "You have our word." _

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Lucy sighed. Her reasons for wanting to come along were purely selfish. If she had truly wanted to protect Erza, she would have simply beaten up Miliana, Wally, Shou and Simon on the beach and handed them to the council. But she hadn't done that. She had chosen to negotiate with the very people who had tried to endanger Erza's life and for what? Her curiosity?

One of the reasons she had wanted to come along was because she was curious about Erza's past. The requip mage's past was a mystery to even the ones closest to the girl and Lucy had always found herself wondering. But now, people from Erza's past had appeared and Lucy couldn't bring herself to pass up the chance of gaining a deeper understanding of the girl. Back on Earth, Erza had mentioned bits of her past to Lucy and in all occasions, the Scarlet mage had stared into space with a far off look and had held the most heart-breaking expression Lucy had ever seen the girl make.

And that lead to her second reason. She couldn't bear to see Erza make that expression. The Erza Lucy loved was happy and content with her family in Fairy Tail and always looked towards the future, not sad and heartbroken because of her past. So she came along because she wanted to help lessen that pain inside Erza. She would take all the burden of their pasts put together if it meant that Erza would be smiling at the end of the day.

She knew she had no right in butting into other people's pasts and trying to play hero. After all, she always ended up hurting the people she loved and always put them into danger. The headphone over her ears was a constant reminder of what she was: a monster, a curse. She should have been grateful at even being allowed to remain in Fairy Tail after she had revealed all the horrible and sick deeds she had done.

But in the end, she was selfish. She knew she always was and she knew that she will always continue to be. She was selfish because she had come back to Fairy Tail after everything she had done. She was selfish for craving happiness when she had brought so much despair onto other people. She was selfish for accepting Fairy Tail's kindness when she clearly didn't deserve it. She was selfish because she wanted to desperately stay close to her friends and protect them when the safest thing for them was for her to stay as far away as possible.

This event with Simon and the others had clearly opened up old wounds in Erza's heart. It was causing the girl pain and sadness and Lucy hated it. She hated seeing Erza's face contorting in anguish and she hated seeing her eyes trembling with unshed tears. So she was going to be selfish and be the one to stand next to Erza during her times of sadness and she was going to be the one to wipe the tears away from Erza's face.

Lucy felt guilty for being selfish and lying to Erza but she didn't regret her decision in coming along. This way, she could keep an eye on the enemy and maybe even help Erza to reconcile with her past. Lucy had been given a chance to move on from her past so why shouldn't Erza? If anyone deserved happiness, it was definitely Erza Scarlet.

"Erza-san," Lucy whispered quietly after a long moment of silence.

Erza opened her eyes tiredly and turned her head to meet Lucy's hesitant eyes. "What is it?" she asked, her voice cracking slightly under the stress of the situation.

"I…" Should she tell the truth? …No. But the least Lucy could do was to inform Erza of the current situation to the best of her ability. It would probably comfort the redhead to have a reassuring presence. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked. It was a safe question. Not too pointless but not too invasive.

Erza sighed. "Yes, physically, I'm feeling fine. The sleepiness is slowly starting to wear off and I'll be in my normal condition in no time. I'm slightly concerned about this magic restricting rope but once I get a clear picture of the situation, I'll come up with something to get us out of here. I'm sorry you were dragged into this as well. If it was my choice, I would be the only one captured."

Lucy grimaced. This was exactly the reason why she had chosen to keep her involvement a secret from Erza. If the requip mage had heard that Lucy had willingly come along, Erza would be furious and that wasn't something they needed right now.

Lucy kept up a nonchalant expression and shrugged. "No, it's fine, Erza-san. I'm glad to hear that you're fine. Anyway, I just thought that you might want to know something."

At this, Erza perked up and focused her full attention on Lucy. "Oh? And what is that?"

"While it's true that I don't know where exactly we are heading, I did hear Miliana-san mention something about bringing you back to someone called Jellal. Oh, and she also said something about Tower of Heaven. Do these names ring any bells?" Lucy asked. She watched as Erza's eyes widened and her face paled.

Erza swallowed. "I…yes, it does. I see… so I'm going back there after all these years."

"Yes, isn't it exciting?" a male voice interrupted their conversation. Lucy and Erza glanced up and watched as Shou descended the small set of wooden stairs that lead to the basement of the ship. He passed Lucy and sent her a brief glare before approaching Erza.

"Shou…" Erza muttered. "Can you release us? We promise not to fight."

At this Shou bristled. "Absolutely not." He pointedly stared at Lucy who smirked back. "Especially not that girl. She's dangerous and needs to be tied up. And you, nee-san, you're a traitor."

Lucy raised her eyebrows. She was getting bits and pieces of information on Erza's past and so far, she got that Erza had apparently betrayed these guys and they were bringing her back to this place called Tower of Heaven. She resisted the urge to scoff. If these guys had half a brain, they would know that Erza was not the type of person to betray her friends. She had willingly put her life on the line for Lucy during the Phantom incident and she hadn't even known Lucy for long.

"I'm… I'm afraid to go back to that tower…" Erza admitted.

Shou's expression softened and he lowered himself until he was kneeling in front of Erza. Then he reached out his arms and wrapped them around a surprised Erza. "I didn't want to do this to you," he said in a strangled voice. "I wanted to see you so bad, really. Nee-san, why did you…betray us?" he lifted his head from Erza's shoulder. "WHY DID YOU BETRAY JELLAL?!"

Erza leaned back, her eyes darting to Lucy. "I… I don't… it's not…" she stammered.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at Erza's obvious discomfort. She knew that there was no way Erza would betray anyone on purpose, especially if they had been her friends as they claimed to be. There must have been a reason and although she didn't know anything about Erza's past, she strongly believed that Erza had done nothing wrong. Call her blind and overly-trusting but that's what she truly believed.

She was about to threaten Shou to back off or else when the guy suddenly stood up and marched away, furiously wiping his tears. She guessed she was supposed to feel sympathy for this guy but she felt none.

She tried to strike a conversation with Erza but the redhead was deep in thought. Lucy groaned and closed her eyes. There was seriously nothing to do down in the basement.

000

It wasn't until the next morning that the ship came to a stop and Lucy and Erza were dragged out of the basement. Erza followed without any resistance, apparently still in a small state of shock. Lucy was just glad to be moving about again. The sun was brightly shining, which she wasn't terribly happy about but the irritating throb in her eyes was easily ignored when she saw the so called Tower of Heaven.

It was situated in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a huge body of water with nothing but large, looming mountains standing tall in the distance. There was a small patch of land around the base of the tower and the ship was anchored just to the right of the main entrance. A wide staircase winded through the small rocky cliff and led directly to the main entrance. Many men were guarding the stairs. The tower itself was certainly tall and Lucy could guess that it was only recently completed, from the look of the spotless doors and shiny bricks. There were no windows and it basically screamed suspicious and shady. Lucy was actually a bit surprised that this place wasn't under the supervision of the council. But then again, the old hags were never really on top of thing when it came down to it. She had been called to the council several times back when she was in Earth and they had never really given the impression of being wise and powerful mages. She knew that they were obviously powerful in their own right but to her, they were just extremely bossy oldies with an irrational hatred for Fairy Tail.

They were led inside the tower and were dragged towards a huge iron door.

"It really was completed…" Erza breathed as she stared at the door in a daze.

"Well, it has been 8 years. We were the ones who put the finishing touches on the place," Shou said with a shrug.

The door slowly creaked open and Simon shoved Erza forward.

"Eight years… you guys…you've all changed," Erza said with a sad expression.

_Yeah, time really changes people. I've changed, so has Evangeline-san and Thomas-san. _Lucy thought rather forlornly. From Erza's expression, Lucy could guess that these guys have not changed for the better. She caught an odd expression crossing Simon's face at Erza's comment but shrugged it off. It was probably nothing.

Behind the door was a steep, winding staircase with candles placed in little hollowed out shelves in the wall. The place felt somewhat like a dungeon and as they were shoved into a small empty cell, Lucy realised that it probably was a prison facility.

"The ceremony will be tomorrow at midday. These will be your quarters until then," Shou said to Erza. "Jellal is pretty pissed at you. He's decided to make nee-san the sacrifice for the ceremony. We won't ever be able to see nee-san again but it's all for the sake of 'heaven'. "

Lucy almost laughed at that. Did Shou really believe the shit he was spewing out of his mouth? It made Lucy slightly angry. There was no place such as heaven that could be opened with someone's death. It was simply an ideal created by naïve humans. Nothing was ever so simple in the world.

"Do you guys truly understand the risk in using the R system to resurrect people?" Erza asked with a glare.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at that. The R system or the 'revive system'. In exchange for one living sacrifice, one person can be brought back from the dead. It was considered to be forbidden magic as far as Lucy understood. She remembered hearing about the R system from some older mages during a mission. She had found it almost funny seeing how she was a vampire and vampires were beings who went through the process of being revived back to life. Of course, she hadn't actually died but it had been very close. The fact that Shou was mentioning the R system probably meant that Erza was involved in it somehow.

Lucy turned her attention back to the conversation between the two. Erza was sporting an enraged expression so Shou had obviously said something wrong.

"He's going to guide us to the 'heaven' ahead. When Jellal revives _that person _the world will be born again. And we shall become its rulers. The remnants of those who stole our freedom…the friends of nee-san who betrayed us… the ignorant people living without a care in the world… the morons on the council… we'll inflict fear and sadness on all of them and then we'll rob every one of their freedom! We'll be the rulers of the world!" Shou shouted with a crazed expression. He seemed to be far too gone in his sick fantasy.

Lucy could see Erza's expression hardening with anger and grinned when she saw the girl swinging her leg up and jabbing her knee viciously into his chin. Shou's head flew back and he slumped to the ground a few feet away. Lucy took this as her cue to free herself from her restraints and walked over to Erza and using her bare hands, ripped the rope apart.

"Thanks," Erza said. Then, glaring ahead, she growled, "What have you done to make people change so much?! I'll never forgive you, Jellal! I'll put an end to this!" She quickly requipped into her armour and materialised a sword into her hand.

"What's the plan?" Lucy asked.

Erza glanced at her. "You should escape, Lucy. This is my problem and I'll take care of it myself. "

Lucy approached Erza and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Of course this is my problem. My friend is being targeted by people trying to use the R system. There's no way I can abandon you, Erza-san. You helped me so much during my stay at Fairy Tail so now it's my turn to help you. It's always good to have an extra pair of hands, don't you agree?" Lucy gave a toothy smile. "Besides, I do crave some action from time to time and I would love to beat up some of these people."

Erza sighed but cracked a small smile at her last comment. "I… thank you Lucy. It's reassuring to know that I have such a reliable friend."

"Of course. After all, we're family, aren't we?" Lucy smiled.

Erza smiled back softly. "Yeah, we are."

"In that case, what are we waiting for? Let's get the party started!" Lucy said as she kicked down the iron door.

They ran up the staircase and once again entered the main hall on the ground floor. They raced down a corridor to the right and found a group of guards standing against the walls and casually chatting amongst themselves. Erza quickly charged ahead and used her sword to swipe everyone off their feet. She grabbed a guard and shoved him against the wall.

"Where is Jellal?!" she asked. The guard nervously glanced at the sword pointed towards his face.

"I… don't," he squeaked before slumping forward, unconscious. Erza growled in frustration and threw him to the ground.

"Erza-san, they can't answer if they aren't conscious," Lucy commented, feeling amused at the redhead's effort.

Erza frowned and walked back towards the main hall, muttering something about the guards being useless. Just then, they spotted a large crowd of guards rushing past in the main hall, yelling something about 'intruders'. Lucy sent a pointed glance to Erza who nodded and rushed forward. She followed the guards and cut them all down with the blunt side of her sword. Lucy grabbed the remaining guard by his neck and threw him hard against a nearby wall.

She looked up at the presence of Natsu and Gray and grinned when she saw them, along with Juvia standing a few meters away.

"Erza!" Gray shouted.

"Luce!" Natsu joined.

Juvia seemed to be awestruck by Erza's earlier performance and Lucy grin widened. Of course Erza was awesome. Who wouldn't be amazed?

"Hey guys," Lucy greeted casually. "Where's Ria?" she asked, seeing no sign of her friend.

Gray looked away. "She…she was knocked about during the chaos and is unconscious. There was no real harm but I left her in your room to rest."

Lucy breathed out slowly. _She's fine. She's not hurt. She just needs some rest. _"Thanks," she told Gray.

Erza, on the other hand, looked shocked. "What are you guys doing here?" She asked.

"What do you mean why?! We'd be disgracing Fairy Tail if we just backed off and let them walk all over us!" Natsu fumed. Smokes escaped from his ears and it would be comical if the situation was so serious.

"Go back," Erza ordered. "You guys shouldn't be here. In fact, Lucy, you should go back with them."

Lucy groaned. _Not this again. _She understood how Erza was feeling but the requip mage had to know that they weren't going to leave her alone to fend for herself.

"They've got Happy shut up here somewhere too! We can't just go back!" Natsu yelled.

"Happy's here?" Erza asked in surprise. "I'm sorry but I don't know where he is."

"Okay, got it!" Natsu said. "Happy's waiting for us! I'm going to rescue him!" Before anyone could stop him, he madly dashed off into the distance.

Erza frowned as she stared at Natsu running away. "You guys get away from here right now. This is my problem, I don't want you guys getting involved," she said quietly, her back turned to them.

"We're already involved! You saw how Natsu was!" Gray said.

Lucy nodded. "Erza-san, would it be okay if I asked who this Jellal is exactly? These guys may have been your friends before but we're your family now and nothing can go between us. They might not have had faith in you but I believe that you did nothing wrong and I'll support you fully. I'm sure Gray-san feels the same. We'll always be here for you," she said softly and sincerely.

Gray nodded, showing that he agreed. "This isn't like you, Erza. Why can't you just stop saying all this useless stuff and tell us 'follow me' like you always do? We'll help you out. Even you're allowed to be scared sometimes, you know."

At this, Erza finally turned around. Gray took a step back when he realised that her left eye was filled with tears that were on the verge of falling.

Lucy silently clenched her fists. This was her first time seeing Erza cry and even the tiniest amount of tears was enough to make her fume with anger. How dare Jellal make Erza cry? She was going to make him pay.

"Sorry," Erza muttered as she hurriedly wiped her eye. "In this fight, whether I win or lose, I'll disappear from this world no matter what."

Lucy assumed Erza was talking about being the sacrifice. Or perhaps she was talking about how she would die in battle? Either way, Lucy was NOT going to let Erza die, if she had any say in the matter.

"So while I'm still here, I'll tell you everything I know."

Erza then proceeded to tell them about how she was kidnapped to be a slave and helped to construct the Tower when she was a child. She told them about the rebellion and the plan to escape as well as how her power had awoken. She told them about Jellal, who had turned evil and talked about Zeref being the true freedom and then threw Erza off the cliff. She finally told them about how she woke up on a shore and joined Fairy Tail.

Lucy listened in silence and her heart ached for Erza whose expression was turning sadder and sadder by the minute.

"Nee-san… those words… what do you mean by them?" Shou's voice interrupted. His expression was a one of shock and disbelief. Lucy rolled her eyes. She didn't feel sorry for the guy. He was a fool for not believing in Erza from the beginning.

She tuned out as Shou started the denial process, shouting some crap about Erza blowing up a ship and betraying everyone.

"If nee-san is right, then everything Jellal said was a lie?!" Shou shouted.

"That's right." Simon's unmistakable voice intervened. "You, Wally and Miliana… everyone had been fooled by Jellal. I waited for the right time, and pretended to believe him also. I believed Erza from the beginning. It's been that way for eight years."

"Simon…" Erza smiled. They gently hugged each other and Lucy smiled at Erza's expression. At least one of her friends had trusted her.

"I've been waiting for this moment," Simon continued. "Now that all these powerful mages are gathered in one place, we'll fight Jellal with our combined strength."

They ran through corridors after corridors whilst Simon fruitlessly tried to contact the cat girl and the block guy. But just as they were in the middle of running, creepy mouths popped up all throughout the hallway.

"Welcome, all of you," the mouths spoke at once. "To the Tower of Heaven! I am Jellal, the ruler of this tower. The pieces of both sides are now in place. I think it's about time for us to begin the Paradise game. The rules are simple. My goal is to use Erza as a sacrifice to revive Zeref. In other words, if I can open the gate-way to Heaven, I win. And if you people can stop me from doing that, then you win. However, that in and of itself wouldn't be too much fun so I've arranged for three warriors to fight on my behalf. If you cannot first get past them, you will be unable to reach me. In other words, this is a battle royale, three versus seven. Also, there's a possibility that the council could launch an attack on this place using the satellite square. They possess the ultimate magic of destruction with the power to reduce everything to naught. The time limit is unknown. But the moment that Etherion strikes, everyone here will die. It will be game over and this game will end without a victor. Now, let's have a little fun." The mouths all simultaneously disappeared.

"Etherion? Impossible!" Erza said, her body literally shaking in disbelief. Just then, Shou pulled out a card and a magic circle appeared. In an instant, Erza disappeared and was transported to a dimension inside the card.

"Shou! What are you doing?!" Simon shouted.

"I'm not gonna let anybody lay a single finger on nee-san. I'll defeat that asshole Jella myself!" with that, Shou sped away.

Lucy rolled her eyes. The guy was seriously annoying. And stupid if he thought he could take on Jellal by himself. It was hilarious that Shou thought he could protect Erza. She teleported to Shou and grabbed his shoulder. She materialised a silver rope that grabbed onto his wrists and tied them together.

"Release Erza-san," Lucy growled. "You're going to get hurt if you don't, idiot. Or do you want me to beat some sense into you?"

"No! I'm gonna protect nee-san!" Shou protested.

Lucy frowned and slammed the guy into the ground and electrocuted him using her magic. "I said, _release Erza-san._"

Shou screamed in pain but Lucy didn't stop her magic. Erza yelled at Lucy to stop from inside her card. But Lucy continued until the guy was so magically drained that the spell automatically wore off. When Erza appeared next to Shou, Lucy released her magic and the rope around his wrists disappeared along with the electricity.

"Should have just done what I told you to from the beginning," Lucy said before walking away. "I'll leave him to you, Erza-san. I didn't do too much damage, only enough to shock him a little. I'll be going the opposite way," she said, addressing Erza. She knew that what she had done was a bit harsh but they were in a serious situation and she didn't have the patience to put up with Shou's ignorance. Shou could have put both himself and Erza into danger and Lucy knew that trapping the requip mage inside the card would only be a waste of time.

At this point, Simon and Gray and already gone off, probably to find Natsu. Juvia was still standing behind them, her eyes wide as she glanced at Lucy and then at Shou who was shakily standing with the help of Erza.

"How come you're still here?" Lucy asked Juvia.

Juvia stared at Lucy. "By Gray-sama's wishes, Juvia will remain and help you defeat the 'warriors'."

"I don't think I will need help but you're welcome to tag along. I guess we can have some fun on the way to Jellal," Lucy said.

"Juvia could not disrespect Gray-sama's wishes but putting me together with my rival in love…is he trying to cause a fight?" Juvia said, as they started to walk down one of the corridors.

"Juvia-san, for the last time, I'm not interested in Gray-san. I only like girls in that way, okay?" she said bluntly. She was starting to get tired of being referred to as a love rival when she clearly wasn't one.

Juvia gasped and she took a step back. "Then… the one you love is…Juvia?!" she exclaimed with wide eyes. Juvia averted her eyes shyly. "Juvia appreciates your feelings but Juvia is already in love with Gray-sama and…"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "No. You don't have to worry; I'm not in love with you. How did you even come to that conclusion?"

Just then, a loud screeching noise filled the area and Lucy winced at the horrible noise.

"What a terrible noise," Lucy said in distaste.

"Juvia thinks it's rather good, actually," Juvia commented.

Lucy stared at the water mage. "I guess everyone has their own different taste in music."

Soon, a man appeared, playing a guitar made out of an animal skull. He swung his head around in circles, his stupidly long hair creating a little whirlwind.

"Hey! YAAA! Fuckin' girls!" He screeched.

Lucy frowned at the vulgar language. "Just my luck. Another idiot appears."

"Assassin's guild, the skull order! Hey! We're the skulls! Cool name ain't it! Member of trinity raven, they call me Vithaldas Taka!" he introduced himself.

Lucy's eyes darkened. "Oh? An assassin's guild, is it? I guess there's no need for me to take it easy on you then."

"Rock you!" Taka yelled in delight as he swung his hair aggressively. Lucy simply ducked out of the way and watched in interest as the hair simply glided through Juvia's body harmlessly.

"Water lock!" Juvia said, trapped Taka in a water sphere, as she had done to Lucy during the phantom incident. Lucy remembered it having an almost sedative effect on her. But Taka merely absorbed the water into his hair and cackled in glee.

"Ya have an interestin' body there, girly! I'll make you my succubus!" he said, and his hair shot forward to surround Juvia. A second later, his hair retracted and Juvia seemed completely transformed.

"Ahaha! I'm gonna drag you down to the depths of hell! Ya little bitch!" she screamed at Lucy. Then, becoming a body of water, she completely swallowed Lucy. Lucy was about to teleport away when she heard a pained voice echoing inside her ears.

'Lucy-san… this isn't Juvia, not any of it! Juvia doesn't want to hurt her friend although it is a little presumptuous of me to call you that. Juvia has truly come to love Fairy Tail. It seems so friendly, so fun and so full of warmth. Just when Juvia thought she was finally starting to get along with everyone…but it looks like Juvia can only bring sadness'

Even whilst being surrounded by water, Lucy could definitely feel drops of tears landing on her face. All of a sudden, the water disappeared and Lucy was left feeling sympathetic towards the girl. She could relate to the pain of hurting friends and bringing nothing but sadness. Lucy could tell that Juvia had been rejected numerous times in her past and was looking for a place to belong.

Lucy smiled. "Heh, why don't you join Fairy Tail, then? I'm sure everyone will be happy to have you there. Our new building is pretty cool, you know? I'll give you a tour. And I'm fine with a bit of rain here and there, especially if it means blocking the sunlight. But first, I guess I'll have to take care of this."

"Useless! Juvia-chan, finish her off already!" Taka shouted.

Juvia quickly transformed into a body of water and shot forward in a whirlpool towards Lucy. Lucy took out a golden key from her dimension pocket, inserted it into the water and summoned Aquarius.

"How many times have I told you not to summon me during a date, you little brat!" Aquarius yelled furiously before swinging her vase to create a huge water wave that completely overwhelmed Taka and swept him away.

"Useless! I told you, my hair absorbs all water!" Taka said, starting to absorb the water.

Lucy smirked and grabbed Juvia's hand and concentrated to her magic. The water around them started to rise and swish aggressively at the force of their unison raid. This was the first time Lucy had ever performed a unison raid with someone and honestly, she had expected it to be more difficult.

Once the water died down, Aquarius approached Lucy snarled in her face. "Don't you EVER summon me from a place like this again. Where are you gonna call me from next? A toilet bowl?!"

"Who knows? If the situation calls for it, I won't hesitate to call you from a toilet bowl," Lucy replied with a smirk.

"You bitch!" the water spirit yelled. "If you dare to do that, I'll fucking drown you."

"Geez, quit PMSing," Lucy said.

"At least I have a boyfriend."

"Where did that even come from? And you know I don't want a boyfriend."

"Oh yeah, still have that dumb crush on that girl?"

"It's not dumb!"

"Well anyway, don't call me for another month. I'm going on a holiday with my boyfriend," Aquarius said, before disappearing.

Lucy turned to Juvia and shrugged. "Don't pay Aquarius any mind. She's just moody all the time. In any case," she said as she walked towards the unconscious Taka. "I'm still not done with this guy. He's from an assassin guild so I bet he's killed many innocents before."

She punched him straight in the face and broke his noise along with all of his teeth. Finally, she felt satisfied and backed away. In her opinion he deserved a lot worse but she wasn't going to waste any more effort on a scumbag like him.

She smiled at Juvia who was looking at her with widened eyes. "Looks like we took out of the bad guys," she said.

"No, you were the one who defeated him, Lucy-san," Juvia said with a sad smile.

Lucy waved the comment away. "Nah, we did it together. Let's leave it at that. We even did a unison raid! That's pretty awesome. These things can only be done when the two people involved are deeply attuned to each other. The fact that we pulled it off shows that we're friends already, right?" she said with a grin.

Juvia stared at Lucy for a while until tears trailed down her cheek. Lucy blinked and averted her eyes awkwardly.

"Ah? Juvia…seems to be raining from her eyes," Juvia said, embarrassed.

Lucy couldn't help but to burst out into laughter. "That's a cute way of putting it." She glanced at Juvia who was slumped on the floor, looking completely exhausted. "Anyway, you seem to be pretty worn out. I'll go ahead and find Jellal myself so why don't you take a little break? Then you can look for Gray-san and we'll meet up later."

Juvia nodded hesitantly. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Juvia is pretty tired. Juvia will meet Lucy-san later."

"Okay, take care alright? I still want you to join Fairy Tail after all of this is over. I'll even introduce you to our master," Lucy said.

Juvia stared at Lucy with wide eyes before breaking out into the most adorable grin ever. Lucy chuckled and with one last wave, she teleported back to the main hall. She stared down the path Erza had taken along with Shou. She wondered if Erza had met any opponents on the way. Probably. In that case she was most likely on her way to Jellal now.

_I guess I'll have to hurry._

She ran down the corridor, checking for any traps or surprises.

She thought about meeting Jellal and beating him up into unrecognisable pieces for hurting Erza and causing her to cry. At the mental image, a slow, almost sadistic grin took over her face and her heart started beating faster in anticipation.

_I'm coming to get you, Jellal. Wait for me in your pretty little throne. _


	17. Sacrifice

**So, I realise that I haven't updated this story in almost a year and I would like to apologise for making you readers wait. I'm grateful for all your (incredibly patient) support and your feed-backs motivate me so much so thanks! I've been running out of inspiration but I just couldn't bring myself to abandon this story, no matter what. I promise that I _will _complete this at some point (probably after the manga ends). I won't go on another such a long break. I'll do my best to update as frequently as possible. **

**In the meantime, enjoy. :)**

* * *

When Lucy finally found her target, she didn't feel the thrill of excitement that she had been expecting to feel. She had been anticipating the fight with Jellal and the darker part of her mind had gleefully wanted to make him suffer as much as possible. But as she took in the sight of Erza fiercely embracing the man responsible for all her suffering, Lucy could not help but feel somewhat irritated, if not a bit jealous.

But most of all, she felt conflicted.

She had fully planned on giving Jellal the smack down of his life for making Erza upset but the girl in question seemed to have forgiven him despite all the things he had done. At this point, Lucy could do nothing but to stare and restrain herself from leaping over to the pair and kicking the guy all the way to the next continent.

Then, the Etherion hit.

If Lucy wasn't so used to chaos, she might have been surprised. But as it stood, she had anticipated the blast and quickly acted as the ground started shaking and the ceiling started crumbling around them. She teleported to Erza, kicked Jellal away and put up a protective barrier around them to prevent from being crushed by masses of debris.

"Lucy? What are you doing here?" Erza asked, her surprise evident as she raised her voice and glanced at the barrier around them.

"I took down one of those knights with Juvia-san and thought I might come here to help. Though I couldn't stop the Etherion, I can still help to inca- I mean, arrest Jellal-san. I suspect it won't be long until Natsu-san also joins us," Lucy replied.

Erza frowned. "You should have escaped like I told you!"

Lucy dropped her smile and looked into Erza's eyes. "I would never abandon anyone from our guild, least of all you. I'm not making that mistake ever again. I would much rather die with you than live without my family and friends."

"Lucy, don't talk about death so lightl-"

"I'm not," Lucy cut her off. "I'm fully aware of what I'm saying and I mean every single word. The only reason I'm here is because of Fairy Tail. Without them… without you, I don't have any reasons to continue living."

Lucy almost winced at her own words. It sounded suspiciously like a love confession. If Erza had noticed, she did not mention it. Finally, Erza's frown melted away and she sighed in defeat. After much internal debating, Lucy hesitantly reached out and took Erza's hand, giving it a small squeeze of encouragement.

"In any case, this tower is not what it seems to be," Lucy said, pointing out the falling slab of concrete that revealed crystal lacrima in its place.

Erza's eyes widened.

Jellal threw his head back and laughed. "Finally, finally the time has come!" He threw out his arms, gesturing wildly at the spiky lacrima surrounding them. "This is the true form of the tower of heaven: a gigantic pillar of lacrima. And through the council's Etherion, I have gathered two billion and seven hundred million Ideas of magical energy. Finally, the R system is truly complete!"

"Does he ever shut up?" Lucy grumbled to herself quietly.

Erza, on the other hand, had a shocked expression on her face. "Y…You tricked me!" she growled at Jellal in anger.

"Oh, you were very cute, Erza," came a new voice from behind them. They turned around and saw a man who looked exactly like Jellal.

Erza's eyes widened. "Wha- Siegrein?!"

Lucy narrowed her eyes. _Who's Siegrein? _She looked closely at the Jellal lookalike and focused on his presence. It was slightly weak but it felt exactly like Jellal's. Using her enhanced eyesight, Lucy could see a small flicker of irregularity in the man and realised that this was merely a projection of Jellal. Lucy grudgingly admitted that it was very well made. For a moment, even she had been completely fooled. As Erza made a move to step forward, Lucy reached out and grabbed her friend's arm to keep her in place.

"Erza-san, that's a projection of Jellal-san, not this 'Siegrein' he's pretending to be," Lucy warned, her grip tight on Erza's arm.

True to her words, Siegrein walked over to Jellal and the two of them merged together in a blur. Jellal raised his eyebrows and chuckled. "You saw through my magic. I'm impressed. Even the fools in the council didn't know any better. They thought I was desperately trying to stop the R-system and they fired the Etherion. Foolish indeed. But thanks to them, my plan is a success. The plan to resurrect Zeref…" he paused and clenched his fists. Immediately, a dark aura surrounded him and raw power oozed from his body. He smirked darkly. "My power…my magic has returned."

Before Lucy could do anything, Erza lunged forward towards Jellal, materialising a broad sword in her hand as she ran. She swung her sword in a wide sweep at Jellal's torso but he quickly dodged out of the way. She pulled out another sword with her other hand and used her momentum to swing it at him in the other direction. This continued for a few minutes, Jellal moving out of the way just in time for every attack. He taunted Erza with useless drabble and although Lucy was tempted to help, she knew that right now, this was Erza's fight. She was only there for backup in case something happened to Erza. She watched as Erza readied herself for a fatal attack, only to be restrained by a binding spell as the red serpent slithered along Erza's arms and her back.

"You will be my sacrifice, Erza. I will fuse these lacrima crystals with your body and you will be broken down and used to reconstitute Zeref's new body," Jellal said as Erza was pulled into one of the large lacrimas.

"Bastard…" Erza choked.

Jellal threw his arms out and shouted to the sky. "Oh exalted Zeref! I am here before you, offering this woman's body as your sacrifice!"

"Jellal… don't do this!" Erza shouted, tears running down her left eye.

Lucy, who had been standing in a stupor, snapped out of her daze at the sight of Erza's tears. This was the second time she had seen Erza cry because of Jellal. Fury bubbled within her and her eyes flashed silver for a second. She had been a passive bystander for long enough. Now was the time to act.

She flashed forward and grabbed Erza's protruding arm. Mindful of her own strength, she gently pulled Erza out of the lacrima and laid her down onto the floor.

Lucy stared coldly into Jellal's eyes. "Erza-san belongs in Fairy Tail and she is my precious friend. I will not, under any circumstances, let you have her. Not unless you kill me first." She then looked down at Erza and smiled warmly. "Are you feeling okay, Erza-san?"

Erza stared at her with a mix of surprise and sadness. "Lucy… what are you… you should have escaped," she said.

Lucy grinned. "What are you talking about? You can't get rid of me that easily. From now on, I'll be sticking to you like glue. Let's head back home. We can go back to the resort hotel and have some rest. I'm sure they have lots of delicious cakes we could try."

"Lucy…" Erza's voice cracked and fresh tears spilled out of her eye. "Please, do as I say and leave this place. Jellal… he's too dangerous."

Lucy shrugged. "Well, we don't know that unless I try fighting him."

"Lucy, please!"

Lucy's grin melted into a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Erza-san… I'm afraid that's a request I can't follow."

"Wha-" Erza was cut off as a small, hypnotising zap passed through her brain and she quickly fell unconscious. Just then, Natsu and Simon ran into the clearing. Natsu's eyes rapidly took in the situation as he and Simon joined Lucy and stared at Erza.

"What happened to her?" Natsu asked, his eyes blazing with anger. When he looked up and saw Jellal, his eyes flashed with understanding.

Lucy nodded, confirming Natsu's suspicion. "I think you understand. But before you do anything, please listen to me. I would like you to take care of Erza-san. I will teleport you to where Gray-san and everyone else is so please go back to the hotel and make sure Erza-san, as well as everyone else, gets some rest. Please check on Ria and make sure she's okay as well. I will stay here and put a finish to all of this."

Natsu immediately flared up in indignation. "Luce! What are you saying?! I can't just leave you alone to fight that guy! I'll stay with you!"

Lucy put a hand on his arm and stared into his eyes with the most serious expression she could muster, hoping that her message was getting across. As if reading her mind, something in his expression shifted and the fire in his eyes died down a little. He wordlessly lifted Erza onto his back and nodded at Lucy.

"Make sure you kick his ass and come back. We'll be waiting for you," Natsu said. Lucy nodded with gratification. It was obvious that the Dragon Slayer wanted to stay and help Lucy but he also understood her determination. Most people only thought that Natsu was impulsive, hot-headed and battle crazy. Whilst all of this was true to an extent, there was so much more to him. He was surprisingly perceptive and knew when to stand back and simply be there to support his friends. In Lucy's opinion, he was the best friend anyone could have ever asked for.

She turned to Simon who was staring at her with worry in his eyes. She was slightly surprised. They hadn't met in the most favourable circumstances and she was sure that she hadn't exactly given off the best impression yet the guy was still concerned about her well-being. She smiled. "You really are a nice guy, Simon-san. But I'm sure you realise why I'm doing this," she said, referring back to their exchange on the beach when she had demanded to be taken along with Erza. She wasn't an idiot. She could tell that Simon harboured deep love for Erza. She could also tell that he had immediately recognised her similar feelings for the redhead when they had exchanged a silent conversation at the beach. As they stood in the Tower of Heaven, they once again silently conveyed their message to each other. _Good luck, _Simon's eyes said. Lucy nodded,_ don't worry, I'll definitely win this fight. In the meantime, please take good care of Erza-san._

Simon nodded and stood next to Natsu.

"Yeah, I know. I'm the same as you so I know exactly how you feel," Simon said, answering her rhetorical question with an understanding look.

Seeing that they were all ready, Lucy put her hands on each person and teleported them to where she felt Gray and Juvia's presence. She closed her eyes. _I'm sorry Erza-san. _

Now that she was alone with Jellal, she turned to face the man.

Jellal was regarding her with an amused smile. "It seems that you are more suicidal than I thought. And much more foolish. Do you honestly think you can beat me? Alone?"

Lucy smirked. "Suicidal would imply that I'm going to die. As it stands, it isn't me who's going to be dying today. I can take on a hundred of you any day." She didn't usually like arrogance and boastful talks before a fight but something about Jellal made her feel completely different. The anger was constantly there and despite her casual exterior, her mind was screaming at her to tear off his head.

_He hurt Erza-san! _

_Kill him! _

_Make him pay!_

_Make him spill blood!_

_Take away all of his magic, tear off his head and cut him into pieces!_

She felt the darkness creeping inside her heart and she forcefully shoved them back. She idly fiddled with her headphones. They were designed to seal her powers and the dark desires that lurked with it but it seemed that the sealing magic was weakening as of late. Her body felt full of magic and her eyes were itching with anticipation. She knew what her heart wanted.

"But thanks to you, my sacrifice has escaped. Well, no matter. You will be the new sacrifice," Jellal said with a twisted smile.

"I'll destroy this tower before that happens," Lucy replied. To emphasis her point, she smashed her fist into the lacrima wall next to her and it crumbled to bits before falling down. She watched with a wrapped sense of pleasure as Jellal's smug expression twisted into fury.

"You piece of shit… you'll pay for that! First, you had the nerve to interrupt my ceremony. Next, you dared to destroy my precious tower! For that, I will crush you with my heavenly magic," Jellal growled.

"Meteor!" Jellal shouted. Immediately, a pillar of light encased him and he travelled towards Lucy at an extremely high speed. Before she knew it, all the wind was knocked out of her as Jellal viciously kicked her stomach. From then on, attacks from all directions knocked her about until Jellal became even faster and delivered blows faster than she could think.

"It's over," she heard Jellal say. "It's Time for you to have a glimpse of real destructive power. **Seven-star sword!**"

She put up a barrier just in time to soften the impact as her surrounding exploded into bits. Once the explosion was over, she dismissed her barrier and stood up.

"Is that all you've got? Doesn't seem that impressive, if you ask me," Lucy taunted. "If you don't take me seriously, your precious tower is going to disappear very soon." She stomped her foot on the lacrima ground and cracks formed in all directions.

Jellal's eyes widened in anger and he clenched his fist. "I was trying not to damage my sacrifice too much but it seems I have no choice. I'm going to send you to hell."

"Been there, done that. Now come get me. That is… if you can."

Lucy teleported to Jellal and punched his face with a magically powered fist. He was sent flying back into the lacrima behind him, causing it to crumble into pieces. Jellal quickly got up and with two fingers, sent a magic sphere flying towards her. Lucy planted her feet firmly to the ground and with two hands surrounded by her magic, pushed against the sphere until it dissipated.

"Heh, your attack aren't anything special are they?" Lucy said with a smirk. Knowing what truly made Jellal angry, she teleported into the air and facing the ground, started forming a massive ball of energy. When she felt that she had used enough magic, she shot it towards the ground. The ball of swirling magic hit the lacrima ground and flew straight through the layer and onto the next. This continued until a long pit was created all the way down to the sea where the magic ball caused an explosion and destroyed most of the lacrima on the first floor.

"You! The tower I spent eight years completing!" Jellal shouted in fury. "Unforgivable!"

He raised his hands into the air and crossed them into the shape of an X. A blast of wind was released and Lucy felt a strong pressure of powerful magic building up around Jellal. She noticed that all the shadows in the area were extending towards the light.

"Fall into the endless darkness, Fairy Tail mage! **Heanly magic: Altairis!**"

"Shit," Lucy cursed to herself as a huge black orb of magic rushed towards her. Even at a distance, she could already feel the overwhelming pressure of the spell. She gathered all her magic into a creating the strongest solid shield that she could possibly manage and pushed against the black orb. The orb soon dissipated but not before shattering her shield and blasting her a few meters away. The few second of exposure to the magic burnt her skin and almost completely drained her energy. Her limbs felt disjointed, her insides churned uncomfortably and her legs were wobbly as she got to her feet. Every movement she made caused spots to dance in front of her eyes and even with her extremely high pain tolerance and her fast healing speed, she knew that this was not an injury she could simply dismiss. She could feel something warm trickling down her arms and her forehead and even without looking, she knew that she was bleeding from all over her body.

"I'm impressed that you're still alive," Jellal said. "For that, I will remember your name, Lucy of Fairy Tail. But this is the end for you. It's obvious that you don't have any energy left to put up a fight. I will crush you into bits for destroying my tower!"

"I appreciate your compliment. Oh, and there's no need to mention my destructiveness. I'm a member of Fairy Tail after all. We specialise in property damage," she replied with a strained smirk. However, despite her bravado, she knew that Jellal was accurate in his observation. She barely had any energy left after the last attack and it would take a while before the magic gathered back in her body. Her vampire body was working furiously to mend the burns and injuries but she knew it wouldn't be enough to fend against the next attack.

_Release the seal…_

She clutched her head as her own voice whispered into her ear.

_Show him your true power. Make him fear you. Show him what true despair is like._

She gritted her teeth. No. She had promised to herself that she would never take off the seal. She would not betray her Shishou. She would not make her Shishou's death be in vain.

'_Shut up', _she shouted in her head. _'I'll defeat him without releasing the seal'. _

She furiously racked her brain for an idea as her gaze rapidly raked over her surroundings. _'Come on, think! How can you defeat him? Look around you, see if there's anything to help you.'_

Just as she focused on her surrounding and saw all the lacrima, she came to a realisation. _'Maybe…'_

She placed her hands on the lacrima and focused. Using the small amount of magic she had left inside her, she visualised the Etherion inside the lacrima in her mind's eye and fused it with her silver magic. She slowly pulled it into her body and gasped as an overwhelming amount of magic filled her to the brim. Every nerves and cells in her body screamed in protest and it felt like they had been set on fire. Her entire body ached from the pressure that the magic put on her body but she ignored the pain and instead focused on gathering the magic into her hands.

Jellal's eyes widened as her body was surrounded by Etherion. "What did you…" he started but Lucy quickly teleported to him and punched his neck with a fully Etherion powered fist. Before he could react, she once again teleported and kicked him into the ground. Her body was beyond battered and she knew she was pushing herself far beyond her limit but she didn't care. Every moment of pain and agony was worth it if Erza and the rest of her friends were safe. Jellal got to his feet but Lucy struck his back with an orb of Etherion and her silver magic mixed together. Blood spurted out of his mouth and he fell to the ground.

"You made Erza-san cry," Lucy growled. "You're going to suffer for that!"

"Oh, shut up!" Jellal shouted back. "Meteor! You can never match my speed!" With that, he disappeared from her sight.

Lucy didn't react and focused on Jellal's presence. It was coming from behind. "Oh yeah? Then what's this?!" she shouted as she turned around and smashed her fist into his chest.

"Impossible! I cannot be defeated! I will create a land of freedom. Zeref spoke to me and asked if I wanted true freedom. I am the chosen one! Together with Zeref, I will create a nation of true freedom!" Jellal shouted as he drew a seal in the air. His eyes widened in shock as the seal collapsed and failed due to his weakened state.

"You? Create true freedom?! Don't make me laugh! You, who are tied down by another, have no room to speak of freedom. Release yourself from Zeref first, Jellal!"

Gathering all the remaining magic she had in her body into her fist, she connected it to Jellal and pushed him towards the tower with all her might. She gritted her teeth when she felt the bones in her fist breaking from the force of the punch.

As Jellal crashed into the tower, it was smashed into bits. She distantly heard Jellal screaming in pain as his body hit the jagged surface of the lacrima floor at a blinding speed of light. The tower slowly began rumbling and soon started destroyed itself. It was bound to happen with the crazy amount of Ethernano stored inside it. Now that the container was damaged and unstable, the Etherion was running wild. The pure power of the Etherion was so great that it was deforming the lacrima itself. Lucy knew that if she didn't do anything about it soon, it was going to explode and destroy everything remotely in its vicinity. That meant that her friends were going to be killed and that was absolutely unacceptable.

She landed on the ground and immediately fell face first as all her magic was sapped out of her. She felt paralysed and found it hard to even move a single finger.

'_The tower's going to destroy itself soon', _she thought to herself. _'Shit… I seriously need to do something before it kills Natsu-san and the others…' _But even as she thought that to herself, she could do nothing. She felt so damn useless and angry. Had all of her efforts been for nothing?!

Just then, she felt Jellal's presence slowly moving and her eyes widened in panic. Was he still able to move? If so, then Lucy was in deep trouble. She had absolutely spent all her energy during the fight. If Jellal decided to take her out, then she would not be able to fight back. However, to her infinite surprise, his presence wasn't approaching her. He was moving towards the centre of the tower where he had tried to fuse Erza's body with the lacrima earlier. Lucy gasped in surprise. Was he trying to…? Her suspicions were confirmed when she felt his presence slowly mixing with that of the lacrima's. She smiled tiredly to herself. _'I guess Jellal-san isn't so unredeemable after all'. _She didn't know what kind of thoughts Jellal was having when he had decided to do this but whatever his reasons were, she was just glad that her friends would be safe.

Finally, she could now stop worrying so much about her friends. She had used all her energy during her fight with Jellal and she no longer even had the energy to teleport herself away. She could just imagine all her friends desperately trying to come and save her. Knowing Natsu's personality, he wouldn't have simply gone back to the resort when she was still here fighting the enemy. And if Erza was awake by now, Lucy could just imagine her struggling against her friends to come back to the tower.

Her mind went to Juvia and their interaction before Lucy had ran off to find Jellal. She sincerely hoped that the girl would find her place in Fairy Tail and receive the same kindness Lucy had experienced. Despite Lucy's early impression of Juvia, the girl had turned out to be rather sweet and surprisingly adorable. From what Lucy had seen, it was evident that Juvia was painfully lonely and craved the kind of the love that Fairy Tail gave out in spades. Lucy was certain that Fairy Tail would welcome the girl with open arms as they did with Lucy.

And Ria… her heart ached knowing that she would be leaving her friend behind. She just hoped that Ria would be able to move on and forget about her.

'_This is how it should be. This is fine. All I do is bring sadness and despair. It's better if I'm not in their lives.'_

She thought of all her friends in Fairy Tail and smiled. They had been so kind and accepting despite not even knowing her for a long time. She remembered the Phantom Lord Incident when they had refused to hand her over, risking their guild as well as their own lives and had called her family over and over again.

For once, she had protected her friends. It was at the cost of her own life but even that was a small price to pay if it meant that her friends would be safe.

As she slipped into the darkness, she felt the tower exploding and the ground disappearing from beneath her. Everything suddenly became cold and she could no longer breathe. Despite the situation, she felt strangely calm and peaceful, as if she was just about to fall asleep.

'_Stay safe, everyone,' _was her last thought before everything stopped.

000

Juvia stared in horror as she watched the Tower completely vanish into thin air right in front of her eyes. Just a moment ago, they had all thought that they were doomed…that every one of them were all going to die from the explosion. However, to their surprise, instead exploding and destroying everything in its vicinity, all the magical energy had shot up into the sky and the Tower had disappeared a moment later, just like that. They should have been relieved and happy that they had survived but only one thought lingered in their mind: Lucy had still been in the Tower. Natsu had screamed in anguish as he tried to escape the air bubble Juvia had created to go back to the Tower and somehow rescue Lucy. He was barely held back by Gray and Simon who both wore pained expressions. Juvia tried her best to stop herself from crying but ultimately failed as she spilled hot tears with her hand covering her trembling mouth.

At first, she had not liked Lucy. The girl had seemed to be so absorbed in her own world and didn't seem to care much about the people around her. Her attitude was too casual if not slightly arrogant. When she had first looked into Lucy's eyes, she had seen the darkness and coldness inside them and it had reminded her of the bullies from her past. She was just the kind of person Juvia disliked. But during the Tower of Heaven incident, Juvia saw a completely different side of the girl. She smiled warmly at her friends and her eyes burned with justified anger and passion. She had shown Juvia kindness and had even called them friends before inviting her to join Fairy Tail.

"_Looks like we took out the bad guy."_

"_No, you were the one who defeated him, Lucy-san."_

"_Nah, we did it together. Let's leave it at that. We even did a unison raid! That's pretty awesome. These things can only be done when the two people involved are deeply attuned to each other. The fact that we pulled it off shows that we're friends already, right?"_

Juvia could still clearly remember Lucy's warm and kind smile. When she looked into Lucy's eyes, she hadn't seen coldness or darkness. She had seen acceptance and warmth.

"_Okay, take care alright? I still want you to join Fairy Tail after all of this is over. I'll even introduce you to our master."_

"Weren't you going to introduce me to your master, Lucy-san?"Juvia quietly choked out as she continued to cry.

Everyone else were in a similar state. Natsu was now motionless, his head lowered and his hands clenched so tightly that he was drawing blood from his palm. Gray was looking away with his jaw clenched and his arms trembling. Although nobody dared to mention it, they were both crying. The mood was sombre as they travelled back to the hotel. On the way, Natsu once again started yelling angrily and demanding that they turn back and search for Lucy. Gray, in a fit of anger, had knocked the Dragon Slayer unconscious, shouting that there was nothing they could do at this point. Erza remained unconscious and oblivious to the tragedy throughout their entire trip and nobody spoke a word.

000

When Erza finally regained her consciousness, she was surprised to find herself lying on a soft bed in a familiar room. She immediately recognised the room to be the one from the resort hotel and she quickly got up, frantically looking around her surrounding and trying to remember what had happened before she lost her consciousness.

"Be careful, you're in a pretty bad shape," a small, tired and scratchy voice called out.

Erza startled and stared at the Elfling in surprise. "Ria? What are you doing here? Wait… what am _I _doing here? What happened with Jellal?! Where's the others?" she demanded. She abruptly stopped when she was met with a listless expression. It was then that she finally registered Ria's strange behaviour. Her eyes were red and puffy, as if she had been crying for hours and her expression was so cold that it sent a shiver up Erza's spine.

"Everything's over. The Tower disappeared along with Jellal and Lucy who was still inside it when it destroyed itself. Thankfully, the magic was sent to the sky so no one else was hurt."

Erza's breath caught in her throat and her heart started pounding faster and faster in her chest. Disappeared… did that mean…? She gasped in horror. Lucy! No wonder Ria looked as if her very own heart had been ripped out.

"How…how long?" she asked with a trembling voice.

"Two days. You've been out for two days and Lucy still hasn't returned." Although Ria didn't say it, the message was clear: _Lucy's dead._

Slowly, all of Erza's strength left her body and her knees buckled, sending her crashing to the ground. She clenched her hands against the floor before angrily punching it with all her might. Why hadn't Lucy listened to her when she told the girl to get away?! Erza felt completely useless and she couldn't help but feel frustrated at herself. She couldn't even save her friend. How was she supposed to face the others in Fairy Tail now? How was she going to face Gray, Natsu, Ria and Happy? Because of her, Lucy had been pulled into this mess and had paid the price in Erza's place. Suddenly, an image of Lucy's smiling face came to mind and before she knew it, hot tears were trailing down her cheek.

"_I would never abandon anyone from our guild, least of all you. I'm not making that mistake ever again. I would much rather die with you than live without my family and friends."_

Erza remembered Lucy's serious expression as she declared this. She also remembered Lucy's sad smile as blonde mage put her to sleep. Her eyes had held a silent apology as well as a fierce determination. Perhaps Lucy had predicted the outcome and deliberately stayed behind by herself to protect everyone else. That wasn't right. If anyone should have died, it was Erza. She was the one responsible for involving everyone into her mess. Contrary to everyone's belief, she wasn't strong. She knew that. But to this day, she hadn't yet realised just _how_ weak and useless she was.

Eventually, her mind went back to Lucy. Despite the rather short amount of time she had known the younger girl for, they had been through a lot together and had made many wonderful memories. As tears continued to stream down her face, her mind flashed through all her memories of the blonde mage.

Their first mission as a team and the many that followed.

Eating cake together inside the prison cell.

Fighting back to back and supporting each other as they fended off the followers in Galuna Island.

Lucy being concerned about Erza's well-being, shouting at Ria for letting her fight Aria in her injured state during the Phantom incident.

Visiting each other's dorm rooms and cleaning together.

Rehearsing and performing the play at the theatre as the two lead roles.

Helping with the construction of the new guild hall together.

The fun they had at the beach and at the casino.

Lucy's supportive smile and her reassuring presence when they had been captured at the Tower of Heaven.

The countless number of times they smiled and laughed and walked together.

All those times they sat on the same table inside the guild hall and feasted and talked with each other without a care in the world.

But now, Lucy was gone and they could no longer make any more memories. They could no longer go on missions together and sit together at the bar and have casual conversations. Team Natsu was no longer the same. With Lucy gone, there was a massive empty hole that no one else could possibly hope to fill. And Ria… Ria no longer had her best friend by her side.

And it was all Erza's fault.

She barely even noticed the fact that for the first time, she was crying from her artificial eye. She could only spill hot tears in silence and mourn for the loss of her dear friend.


	18. Reunion

**Hi guys, I'm back! This time, without too much of a delay. I'll try to keep up the pace. As I was writing this chapter, I got the feeling that this chapter is just a massive info dump. Oh well XD **

**My replies to reviews are at the bottom. **

**Warning: Beware of massive info dump! XD (Sorry, not sorry) Enjoy. **

* * *

"Oi, shove it, ice-brain!"

"What did you say? You wanna have a fight?!"

"Bring it!"

"Stop it, you two! You'll wake her up!"

Lucy groaned as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Look at what you did! She's waking up now!"

'_What the… is that Ria's voice?'_

"Wha…" she mumbled as she blinked the sleep away from her eyes. However, they immediately widened when she saw Erza smiling down at her warmly. Natsu and Gray were bickering behind her and the rest of the guild was minding their own business in the background. As she took in the scene, she felt that something wasn't right.

She gasped with realisation. The guild hall! It was the old one, not the one they were building after the fight with Phantom Lord. What was going on?

"Good morning Lucy. Is something wrong? You seem to be confused," Erza said.

"I…" she started, not entirely sure what to say. "What happened to Jellal?" she finally asked. She had lots of questions jumping around in her head but she decided to go with the most urgent one. She had of course felt him fusing with the lacrima but she had to be sure that he didn't somehow miraculously manage to escape.

To her surprise, Lucy saw that Erza was shocked at her question. "How do you know Jellal?" Erza asked fiercely.

Lucy blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I've never told you about him," Erza insisted.

"Um…" Okay. Something was terribly wrong. First, the old guild hall was not smashed into pieces. Second, Erza had just asked why she knew Jellal when they had been fighting the very same man only moments ago. Third, everyone was acting as if nothing had happened. And now that she thought about it, what was she doing at the guild hall in the first place?

_Finally, you're awake, child. _

Lucy startled. '_Shari? Is that you?!'_

_Who else talks to you inside your head?_

The blond mage quickly raised her hands to feel for her headphones and to her shock, found that they weren't there. She quickly realised that the usual dull ache in her eyes wasn't present either.

So, fourth, Shari was still in her head. Fifth, she was apparently no longer a vampire.

Things were definitely not right.

"Could we please have a talk later, Erza-san? I'll meet you in your room," Lucy said.

Erza frowned but nodded. She got up and quickly kissed Lucy on the lips before leaving the guild hall.

'_What in the world…'_

Lucy's face turned red as she sat in complete and utter shock.

"Di-did she just kiss me?!" she asked Ria with wide eyes. Her first kiss had just been taken away from her, just like that in a blink of an eye. She wasn't sure whether she should be feeling happy that it was Erza or if she should be feeling disappointed that it didn't last longer. In the end, she settled for somewhere in between.

Ria stared at her in confusion. "Yeah… why are you acting so shocked? You guys have been dating for a year. Shouldn't you be used to this by now?"

Dating?! The last time she checked, she and Erza were just good friends. Things were most certainly not right. Lucy was determined to get to the bottom of this. Either she was dreaming or she was in some kind of blissful afterlife.

Suddenly, she had a thought. "Ria," she said slowly. "What's the name of this world?"

"Is this some kind of trick question?" Ria asked suspiciously. Lucy shook her head. The Elfling stared at her before answering. "Earth… are you really okay, Lucy? You've been acting weird since you woke up."

Lucy shook her head, slightly dazed. "No...I'm fine. I think… I'm going to go for a walk outside."

"Okay. Have fun," Ria said, before turning back to her previous activity.

_You're not Lucy are you? At least, you're not the girl I'm familiar with. _Shari's voice filled her mind as she walked out of the guild door.

The blonde mage sighed and shook her head.

'_You're right. I'm not fully sure what's going on but I seemed to have been pulled into some strange alternative world. I am Lucy but probably a Lucy that took a different path from the one you know.'_

Just when she thought that jumping between different worlds was the epitome of magic, she goes and gets herself pulled into an alternate timeline of her past. There was never a dull moment in her life. However, instead of contemplating her life, she decided to briefly explain her current situation to Shari because if anyone could give her an insight, it was the voice inside her head. She told Shari about her timeline and everything she had been through so far.

There was a long silence after Lucy finished telling her story. It seemed as if a century had passed until Shari finally began to speak.

_If I wasn't me, I would have found the credibility of your story extremely lacking. But I can feel that you are not lying and I did sense an unexplainable change in you so I can only conclude that you are telling the truth and you have replaced the Lucy of this timeline, _Shari said.

Shari then remained silent again for a few moments, seemingly contemplating about something.

_I see… so you saw my past. I'm truly sorry that you had to experience all of that. I didn't mean for you to find out about me. But how did you feel when you first saw my past and who I really am?_

Lucy thought about this question. "Hmm… well, to be honest, I didn't really have time to react to it when you fused with me and I saw flashes of your past. I was kind of busy going around slaughtering innocent people," she said wryly, smiling at the self-deprecating and morbid joke. "But afterwards, I guess I had a hard time coming to terms with it. I always perceived you in a certain way but you turned out to be something completely different. I mean, the manifestation of all darkness and evil from another universe? That's not something that can be easily believed. I was only able to accept it because of everything I went through already by that point."

_Yes, you're right. And I'm sorry you found out about me in your timeline. _

Lucy shrugged. "It's fine. That was a long time ago and I've had time to accept it. I don't like who I've become after fusing with you but for strange reasons, I don't like the idea of losing that side of me. In the end, it's still a part of me and losing it would feel like I'm losing a part of myself and betraying myself. It's a complicated feeling."

_No, I understand. I'm glad you did not lose hope even in your circumstances. I suppose I now owe you a proper explanation. The world I originally came from was full of chaos and darkness. Every day, a little bit of the dark energy gathered together until eventually, I was born. At first, I didn't have any conscious thoughts but eventually, enough power gathered for me to develop a personality and I was able to think and act independently. Every day, I watched over the world and saw the never ending darkness of it. The people living in the world were already too far gone with madness and were slowly destroying themselves. Perhaps I wasn't the right person to judge but at the time, I believed in what I did and destroyed the world. I had fully intended to be destroyed along with the world but unexpectedly, I was pulled into another world. Of course, this was your world: Earthland. I was shocked to see that such a world with so much brightness existed and I felt like I didn't belong in such a place. After all, I was basically darkness itself and I felt that I no longer had any purpose in a world so full of light and hope. But then, a man by the name of Keine Heartfillia came along. He was truly a kind and powerful man. He was on a journey in discovering the world and when he met me, he listened to my story with patience and understanding. When I shared my inner conflict with him, he offered me a solution. Using his most powerful magic and along with my help, he magically bound me to a book. He said that when the time comes and the right person comes along, I would be released from the book and would fuse with the person and find a purpose once more. I requested that he pass me down his family as I felt that the person would come from his family. And centuries later, you came into the library and I immediately knew you were the one. I adopted a female voice as I could tell that you loved your mother above anyone else and I spoke out to you. From then on, you know the rest of the story. In this timeline, I am still conscious inside Lucy but it seemed that in yours, I have completely become a part of you and have lost my consciousness due to you killing me. In human terms, I suppose I have essentially died. _

Lucy took in the information that Shari had provided. She had wondered who Shari was for a long time and even the little flashes had not been one hundred percent informative. It was nice to talk to her old friend like this again after such a long period of time. Maybe, this was a chance for her to fully find out about her magic and how it worked. Who better to learn from than Shari? Before she could formulate a reply, Shari continued speaking.

_However, you must keep in mind that the Lucy of this timeline did not experience what you did and she is a completely different person from you. Therefore, we must quickly form a solution to bring her back and send you back to your own timeline. _

"Well how can I go back to my timeline? I don't want Erza-san and the others to worry," Lucy said worriedly. Now that she was alive, she wanted to return to her friends in Earthland. They probably thought she had died by now. As much as she wanted to learn about her magic, she also didn't want to be away from her family longer than necessary.

_This is just curiosity on my part but what's the hurry, other than the fact that your stay could potentially cause huge disasters? From what you have told me, you are in love with the girl are you not? Would you not prefer this world where you're in a relationship with her? _

Lucy rolled her eyes. Of course there were many reasons why she wouldn't want to stay. One, she would worry her friends and the rest of Fairy Tail if she didn't return and two… actually, now that she thought about it, she really had no reason to return other than to prevent chaos from breaking out. Shari was speaking the truth, after all. Lucy was in love with Erza so this timeline was like a dream come true. The Lucy of this timeline was a lucky bitch.

She sighed. She would think about it in more detail later. For now, she had to go and talk to Erza about Jellal. She grimaced slightly. Explaining why she knew about a person from Erza's past when the person had never even been mentioned before was definitely going to be a challenge.

"I'm going to go to Erza-san now to talk to her about Jellal. Shari, can you try and think of ways that I can return to my timeline in the meantime?"

_I'll definitely look into it. I'm sure I'll be able to think of something and come up with an explanation as to why you're here despite all the improbabilities. _

Lucy smiled. "Thanks." Now that she could talk to Shari again, she suddenly remembered how comforting it had been to have someone in her mind to talk to and turn to when she felt alone. She had nearly forgot how helpful it was to have Shari inside her mind to help her.

She started to make her way to Fairy Hills where Erza was most likely waiting for her in her room. She took in the familiar scenery of endlessly stretching woods and greenery and she smiled. Just taking in the sight of Fairy Hills brought peace to her restless mind. Once again, she was reminded of just where she belonged. She entered through the front entrance and immediately spotted Erza sitting in one of the sofas. She was frowning and seemed to be thinking about something deeply. Lucy felt somewhat guilty for mentioning Jellal; she had most likely brought up some bad memories for Erza.

When Lucy approached Erza, the red haired mage looked up and offered her a weak smile. Lucy smiled back and sat next to her friend. Or was it girlfriend? Well, they were technically dating in this timeline. The very thought caused the blonde mage's smile to stretch. However, it quickly faded when she reminded herself that _she _wasn't really the one dating Erza and in her timeline, she and Erza were only friends.

"Did you have time to sort out your thoughts?" Erza asked kindly.

Lucy nodded. "Yes. However, I'm sure you have many questions so please don't hesitate to ask. I will answer all of it to the best of my ability," she said.

Erza narrowed her eyes slightly. "There's something off about you, Lucy. You're not usually this formal. Are you sure nothing has happened?"

Lucy blinked. Was the Lucy from this timeline not as formal as her? She had to wonder how different they truly were. She contemplated Erza's question. Should she spill the truth? It would help to have someone else on her side and she had a feeling Erza was only going to get more suspicious. The only thing preventing her from doing so was her doubt that the requip mage would believe her story. She sighed. Oh screw it. She might as well tell the truth. If it was going to make her seem crazy, then so be it.

As briefly as possible, Lucy slowly and carefully explained the situation. She didn't go into her past or anything like that but she explained that she was from an alternative timeline and was somehow currently occupying this timeline's Lucy's body. She quickly told Erza that she had just met Jellal in her own timeline which was why she knew about the guy. After she finished her explanation, she sat back and carefully gauged the redhead's reaction. Surprisingly, Erza didn't seem too shocked or disbelieving and her eyes were filled with a strange sense of trust.

"I believe you," Erza said. Just like that. Lucy found it slightly hard to believe that Erza would so easily accept the situation without even asking any further questions. As if reading Lucy's expression, Erza sighed. "Lucy already told me that she's from another world. Of course, it was hard to believe at first but I believed in her and knew that Lucy would never lie to me like that. And it's quite obvious that you're not the Lucy I know from your behaviour alone. I suppose this kind of news just lost its element of surprise after so many years of knowing Lucy."

Lucy couldn't help but blush slightly at Erza's casual comment about their relationship. She cleared her throat. "I see. Well I'm glad you understand my situation. Of course, I'm planning to return to my timeline and bring your Lucy back in the process. In the meantime, I would be grateful if you could help me out."

Erza nodded. "Of course. You can count on me. I'm worried about where Lucy is and it's in my interest to bring her back."

Lucy stared speechlessly as she saw the love and devotion in the other girl's eyes. For a second, she felt a pang of jealousy for the Lucy of this timeline but quickly shook the feeling away.

_In this timeline, Lucy confessed to Erza when she was thirteen and didn't go on a long mission. At first, Lucy was kindly rejected and they remained as close friends but Erza realised her own feelings about a year ago during a joint mission and they have been lovers since then. As for Midnight Assassins, they did attack Fairy Tail but this was a few months ago and your friends were able to defeat them with a little help from Blue Pegasus and they're currently in the Magic Council's custody. Whilst many were injured, no one died, _Shari helpfully explained.

Hearing this, Lucy couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if _she _had confessed on that fateful day instead of being a coward and making up an excuse. Would she still be in Earth? Would things have turned out for her as it did for the Lucy in this timeline? Would she have been saved from turning into a monster?

She mentally smacked herself for the thoughts. Whilst there had been tragic moments in her life and she had suffered many losses, she did not regret meeting her Shishou and spending time training under her. She did not regret meeting Evangeline and becoming friends with her. She didn't regret going back to Earthland and she certainly would not trade her memories for anything in the world. Her experience was what made her into the person she was at the moment and whilst she was far from being proud of who she was, she did not regret the precious lessons she had learnt in her past.

Lucy observed the Erza sitting in front of her. Before she had arrived at Earthland, she remembered thinking about how the redhead would have grown if she hadn't died. She had been so in love with the Erza she had created for herself that when she met the requip mage in Earthland, she had been surprised at how startlingly different they were. She had always assumed that the two versions of Erza would be completely the same and had made them into the same person inside her head; she had clumped them together as one entity. She had always thought that she was loving the same person but now… now that she was truly seeing the Erza from Earth, she couldn't help but feel like she was meeting a stranger, as if they didn't really know each other. And thus, she came to a shocking realisation.

She was in love with Erza Scarlet. But not just any Erza…not the one she had created for herself inside her head. She was in love with Erza _from Earthland, _the one who was almost child-like and was easily excited by the tinniest of things, the one who always packed all her belongs no matter where she was going, the one who sometimes acted airheaded and flustered, the one who secretly really liked cute and girly things, the one who read erotic novels as her guilty pleasure and the list was endless. It was the unmistakable truth that at one point Lucy had harboured deep feelings for the Erza from Earth. But after spending time with the quirky redhead mage back in Earthland, she couldn't imagine herself falling for anyone else, even if they happened to be another version of her. With this realisation, Lucy felt as if a huge load had lifted from her shoulders.

"Are you feeling okay? You've been zoning out for a while," Erza's voice said in concern.

Lucy blinked and smiled reassuring. "Yes, sorry for worrying you. If you don't mind, I think I need some time alone to think to myself. I'll try my best to come up with a solution as quickly as possible," she said.

Erza nodded. "That's fine. Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything."

"I will, thank you," Lucy said as she stood up. With one last wave of goodbye, she walked out of Fairy Hills and headed for a quiet place to think and clear her head. Now that she had sorted out her feelings, she was now determined to find a way back to Earthland. Her heart ached when she imagined her friends frantically waiting for her to return.

_I need to return. _After all, she had made a promise with Natsu at the Tower of Heaven.

000

The next day, Lucy was talking to Shari and both of them were discussing the results of their research.

"I couldn't find anything from the books. It's not every day you come across people ending up in alternate timelines," Lucy said. "Do you have any ideas? Maybe if we know how I got here, we can figure out a way to return."

_I have managed to come up with a theory that I'm about ninety percent sure of. _

"Ninety percent huh? Well, it's much better than nothing. What is it?"

_Well, you have mentioned that you pulled some Etherion into your body did you not? Now think about this. Most mages have a 'container' inside them that store up Ethernano from their surroundings which they can then convert to magic. However, you are a special case. Born as an Earthland mage, you of course possess a 'container' which is how you use your Celestial magic. But what sets you apart from the other mages is what you call your 'silver magic'. In other words, me. I am from a completely different world so I do not abide by the laws of yours. Your 'silver magic' does not come from your surrounding but comes from within you. When you killed me, the magic literally became a part of you and every time you use it, it will always return to your body. When I was conscious inside you, I actively sealed away a large portion of me as it would have damaged your body otherwise. However, when you became a vampire, I lost my independence and ability to think logically. The seal was lifted but you were able to hold most of my power without damaging your body due to your enhanced state as a vampire. And even then, your body wasn't strong enough to hold my full power so it would have subconsciously locked away some of the power to keep it safe. So going back to the topic, it means that you already essentially had two conflicting types of magic inside your body even before you pulled in the Etherion. Even if the majority of your 'silver magic' was sealed, they were still inside you and it was there along with your 'container' that stored Ethernano. Previously, the Ethernano was stored in a separate place from your 'silver magic' which prevented a clash between the two types of magic but when you pulled in the Etherion and fused it with your 'silver magic', you caused the two to clash and most likely, this is a side effect of the clash. That, along with the huge amount of magic in the atmosphere when the lacrima tower exploded probably created some sort of distortion in the space-time fabric which swapped your mind with the most similar version of you. _

Lucy took in the information to the best of her ability. It was quite a lot to take in so suddenly but she now felt that she had a better insight on her own magic than she did before. However, she had more important things to think about at the moment. "So… what can I do to reverse the effect?"

_We wait. There's nothing much we can do to try and reverse the effect. Unless we recreate the exact same conditions when the swap happened, it's highly unlikely that the same thing will happen again. If we recklessly try something, you will only get sent to another place or possibly even die. _

"How long would I have to wait?" Lucy demanded. She dreaded the thought of waiting for long. If she didn't return soon, her friends would assume that she had died.

_That, I cannot be certain about. Most likely, you will return to your timeline when your physical body becomes stable again. I'll know when it's about to happen. Before you swapped, I felt an irregularity in my magic but at the time, I had no answer as to what it was about. But now I know and I will give you a warning before it happens. _

Lucy closed her eyes and sighed. Was there really nothing she could do?

Sensing her frustration, Shari attempted to comfort her as best as she could. _Don't worry. I doubt it will be long until it happens. In the meantime, I'll answer any questions you have about me and my magic. _

Hearing this made Lucy feel slightly better. At least she would finally be able to find out what exactly her magic was and how it was supposed to be used.

000

Two days passed without the swap happening and Lucy was starting to grow impatient. She wondered if time flowed at the same pace in both timelines. What if a day in this timeline was the equivalent of a year in Earthland? She knew that time in the spirit world flowed very quickly compared to time in the human world. She quickly shut down that train of thought before she could start panicking.

Thankfully, Shari had been there to keep her occupied with magic lessons which were interesting enough to keep Lucy's undivided attention. Lucy thought back to everything she had learnt about her magic in the short span of time.

_From what you've told me about how you use your magic, I can tell that you focus too much on the fact that your magic is silver. I realise that this may sound silly and obvious but it really doesn't matter what colour your magic is. What you have isn't the ability to manipulate 'silver' but the ability to manipulate the huge amount of raw energy you have inside your body. What you do with this energy is completely up to you. They can do whatever you can come up with as long as you give them the appropriate commands. You can command them to have different properties – liquid, solid, gas, wave or even just pure collection of the energy. You can command them to have different shapes and speed and the possibility is just endless. What I'm trying to say is that you should throw away the restriction you've put on your own magic and start practicing with this new mind set. This way, you'll be able to use your magic to its full potential. _

Lucy hadn't realised this before but it was true- she had been too obsessed with the fact that her magic was silver. But after listening to Shari, she found that everything was much clearer and made a lot more sense. From now on, she was going to have to completely change her thought process when using her magic and come up with a new and appropriate training regime to start practicing. She was essentially going back to the basics and rebuilding her skills, which, in her opinion, was always a good thing to do from time to time. It would help her come up with new efficient ways of using her magic and find flaws that she had overlooked before. She couldn't help but feel excited at her newly gained insight and knowledge. The timeline switch was a pain in the ass but it certainly had its good points.

_Also, there's something else you should keep in mind. As you may know, normal mages have a 'container' inside them where they store Ethernano to convert into magic. Different people have different sized 'containers' and the bigger it is, the more Ethernano you can store, meaning more magic. This allows them to last longer in magic based battles where they are constantly depleting the Ethernano from their 'container'. When they run out of Ethernano, they must wait for a set period of time to allow their 'container' to fill up once again. Of course, this also applies to you when you are using your Celestial magic. However, you also have your Silver Magic which works in a slightly different way. With your Silver Magic, your entire body is a giant container of the raw energy. However, it doesn't come from your surrounding as Ethernano does but it's always inside you. There's a set amount of energy and most of it is sealed away but if you were to release the seal, the amount of energy you would be storing is enormous. Just keep in mind that when you completely release the seal, your body needs to be in a state where it can handle that amount of power or at least know how to suppress a big portion of it, otherwise it would break down. At your current state, you cannot afford to use your full power without dying immediately. You would also need to learn to control how much energy you are outputting because if you don't, you can easily hurt someone or cause too much damage unintentionally. _

_Going back to the point, whenever you use some of your Silver Magic, it will always eventually come back to you but the speed in which this happens depends on how much you've used. The more you use, the slower it will come back. Therefore, you need to start training to consciously pull the energy back to you to speed up the process and shorten your recovery time. To do this, you need to know how much energy you've used and be efficient at mental calculations. When you can do this, you can work on pulling back the energy whilst you're still outputting. If you can master this, then theoretically, you would have an infinite storage of energy and never run out. However, this is all easier said than done; it will be extremely hard to learn to do this at all, let alone to the level which I described. _

At this, Lucy had confidently shrugged and told Shari that she would to it. And she fully intended to keep to her promise. Like everyone else, she was constantly aspiring to become stronger and with these new pieces of information, she was eager to immediately start training. She quickly made a mental list of things she needed to work on: learning how to use her magic from scratch, working on using her magic effectively, efficiently and creatively and learning how to consciously pull the used energy back to her body. Of course, she would continue to build her strength, speed, stamina, endurance, agility, flexibility, reaction time, pain tolerance, mental strength… the list was simply endless. Some called her a training maniac but from her perspective, she was just doing everything she could to reach her never ending goal of becoming stronger. Plus, she enjoyed doing it. What was wrong with doing something she greatly enjoyed?

_If you can reach a state where your body can hold your full power without injuring itself and you have mastered everything I've told you, I believe that you will truly be invincible. _

Whilst Lucy wasn't sure about being invincible (she didn't believe that anyone was invincible), she was determined to do exactly as Shari said in order to become stronger and better protect her friends. (And preferably not get pulled into another weird alternate timeline as a consequence.)

But moving on from that, she was really beginning to wonder if she was going to be stuck in this timeline forever. For the past few days with the help of Erza, she had been able to stay away from the guild without raising too much suspicion but Ria was starting to really notice that something was wrong. If she and the other Lucy didn't go back to their own timeline soon, things were going to get ugly, especially for the other Lucy who wouldn't have gone through half of what she did.

_It's going to happen. I can feel it. _Shari's voice suddenly cut through her thoughts.

Lucy shot up to her feet. "When?"

_Quite soon. You should mentally prepare yourself. _

Lucy nodded. "Okay." Finally, she was going to return and see her friends again. She just hoped that they haven't held her funeral yet. Then, thinking about Shari, she grew slightly sad at the prospect of leaving. She hadn't talked to her friend in a long time and missed her terribly. However, she was thankful that she was able to talk to Shari again for the short time that she was given. So many questions had been answered and she had learnt a lot from her friend. "Before I go, I'm going to say thank you for everything. I never really got the chance to say a proper goodbye to you and this me doing it now. Thank you Shari, for being my friend and always being there to help me. You will forever be in my heart."

_Thank you too, for giving me a name and a purpose and thank you for letting me experience happiness and friendship. _

Lucy smiled and waited until everything became black.

000

When Lucy opened her eyes again, she was relieved to feel the familiar ache in them as she tried to blink away the pain. She didn't think she would ever say this but she was glad that she seemed to be back in her real body.

"Lucy! You're awake, thank god." The voice was very familiar and Lucy grinned when Loke's worried face came into view.

"Good morning, Loke. Is it morning? How come you're materialised?" Lucy asked as she slowly sat up. Loki immediately supported her, acting like a fussy older brother.

"You shouldn't move so much, Lucy," Loke chided. "But yes, it is morning. And I'm materialised to look after you. Who knows what would have happened if Aquarius didn't materialise using her own power and kept you alive in the sea. Since then, everyone has taken turns looking after you."

Lucy's heart warmed when she heard this. She had always considered her spirits as part of her family so it was very heart-warming to hear that her friends had done so much to keep her safe. It couldn't have been easy for them to stay materialised in the human world using their own power, especially the weaker spirits. Usually, it wasn't even possible for spirits to materialise in the human world without the user opening their gate but Lucy had researched into a method and created a contract that allowed her spirits to do so but at the expense of using a high amount of their own magic. She made a silent promise to herself that she would do something nice for each of her spirits at some point.

"Thank you. Make sure to tell everyone that I'm really grateful."

"Will I receive a punishment, master?" Virgo's monotonous voice reached her ears. She turned and saw the maid kneeling next to her with her usual blank expression.

Lucy sighed fondly and smiled. "Okay, sure. But not now. How long was I out for?"

"Three days since you plummeted into the sea. You were in a horrible state, we barely recognised you. All of us were worried sick about you, Lucy," Loke said, applying more bandage on her mostly healed arm. "Don't tell Aquarius I said this but she even ditched her date to look after you. And you know how much she loves her boyfriend."

"Sorry," Lucy apologised. She was quite shocked to hear that Aquarius, of all people, would willingly ditch her date for Lucy. Sure, she had always known that the water spirit held a hidden soft spot for her but she hadn't quite realised to what extent Aquarius cared for her. It was a rather eye-opening news and she felt her heart melting with love for her friend. When Loke finished tightening the bandage, Lucy pulled her arm away and moved it about, feeling satisfied when she didn't feel any excessive pain. It would be at least one more day until she would be completely healed but she wasn't too worried about that. She smiled at both Loke and Virgo. "Once again, thank you. You guys can go back now, it must be hard to stay materialised. I can manage on my own."

"Are you sure?" Loke asked, still worried.

"I am capable of staying for a while longer," Virgo said.

Lucy shook her head. "Seriously, don't worry. Thank you for being worried but I'll be fine. You guys should take a rest. I'll summon you if I need you."

This at least seemed to convince the spirits and they disappeared after telling Lucy that they were happy she was alright.

Once she was alone, she inspected her surroundings. She was in some sort of a cave surrounded by the sea. She didn't recognise the place but it didn't really matter either way. She stood up and stretched lightly and checked that her magic was working. Once she was satisfied, she teleported to the shore near the hotel she and her friends were supposed to be staying at. She briefly wondered if they were still there and sincerely hoped that they were.

As she began walking towards the hotel, she spotted a familiar pink haired figure walking alone by the sea, occasionally kicking the sand in small fits of anger. Lucy immediately felt a stab of guilt. Natsu was probably in a bad mood since she had disappeared. She hoped that he would forgive her.

"Natsu-san!" she called out as she started jogging towards the boy. Natsu's head jerked up and his eyes widened when he saw her approaching him. Immediately, his expression brightened with hope and he ran towards her. Without a warning, Lucy was pulled into a tight hug.

"Luce! Where the hell were you? Everyone thought you died but I knew you were still alive. Don't ever disappear like that again," he mumbled against her shoulder. Lucy smiled and patted him on the back.

"Well, I did promise to come back. I couldn't break a promise," she said with a grin.

Natsu pulled away and grinned back. He seemed to be in a good mood. The dark expression that was on his face a minute ago was now a thing of the past.

The Dragon Slayer grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards the hotel. "Come on! We've got to tell the others. They're all in Erza's room talking about when they're going to go back to the guild and tell the master that you're dead. I couldn't take the bullshit anymore and escaped."

Lucy grimaced slightly at the mention of her apparent death. Without saying anything, she simply allowed herself to be dragged by Natsu and before she knew it, they burst into Erza's room where everyone was situated in a makeshift circle. Gray, Erza, Happy and Ria were sitting on the bed, their expressions sombre and serious. Simon, Shou, Wally and Miliana were each sitting on a chair whilst Juvia was standing next to the wardrobe, looking out of the window with a distant expression. They all looked up when they heard the dooring slamming against the wall and each of them gasped in surprise when they saw a bandaged but otherwise fine Lucy standing behind an excited Natsu.

"Ha! What did I tell you! I knew she wasn't dead!" Natsu exclaimed, pointing a finger at the blonde mage.

"Sorry for scaring you like that but… I'm back," Lucy said with a smile.

Immediately, Ria flew right into her face and started crying. "Lucy! I thought you were dead! Don't ever scare us like that again!"

Gray quickly recovered from his shock and gently smiled at Lucy. "Glad to see you back, Lucy."

"Aye! Now Natsu won't be throwing tantrums anymore!" Happy shouted but there were tears of joy in his eyes.

Simon, Miliana and Wally smiled at her and even Shou seemed to be relieved.

Surprisingly, Juvia ran up to her, shouting, "Lucy-san!" and pulled Lucy's head against her rather generous chest. Under normal circumstances, Lucy would have blushed but she felt that the moment was too special to ruin with her perverted thoughts. Her eyes softened and she patted Juvia's head.

"Sorry for worrying you. I'll make sure to keep my promise and talk to master for you."

Juvia shook her head. "No, it's okay. Juvia will go and talk to Fairy Tail's master by herself. But thank you for everything, Lucy-san."

Finally, Lucy turned to Erza. The girl in question was slowly walking towards her with an unreadable expression and Lucy found herself growing slightly nervous. When, she was within an arm's reach, Erza's eyes suddenly filled with tears and she, like Natsu, pulled Lucy into a tight hug. Lucy remained silent, even when her head was bashed against solid metal armour.

"I'm glad you're back Lucy… please don't do that again," Erza said with a trembling voice.

Lucy couldn't help but feel like an asshole for making Erza cry. In fact, she was an asshole for making everyone worry. She promised to herself that she would make it up to them. Silently, she wrapped her arms around Erza and pulled the girl even closer.

"I won't. That's a promise."

000

After the touching reunion, in a typical Fairy Tail fashion, they had a party. They feasted on the hotel food and spent their day just having fun and putting the events from the Tower of Heaven behind them for a day. Juvia had told Lucy that she was going to go and talk to the master and quickly ran off before Lucy could say anything.

Lucy had noticed Simon silently pulling Erza aside during the day and she respectfully avoided listening to their conversation. But even without eavesdropping, she knew that Simon had confessed his feelings only to be rejected. But from his content smile, she could also tell that there were no hard feelings between the two. Lucy smiled at Simon who nodded back, his eyes conveying a silent message: _you should tell as well. _Lucy's smile faltered and she shook her head. She felt that now wasn't the time to confess. But then again, she was a coward and never felt that it was the right time. Thankfully, Simon had dropped the subject and nothing more was said between them. Whilst Lucy and Simon weren't close friends by any stretch of the imagination, they had a mutual understanding and connected on a different level. Miliana turned out to be a pretty decent girl and Lucy didn't mind her presence. She seemed to have an obsession with cats and constantly pampered Happy, although the cat himself didn't seem to mind. Wally kept making film references although the range of films he referred to was sadly restricted to one which made for some very repetitive references. Shou was less annoying now that they were on better terms but Lucy could tell that he was still slightly scared of her. It was kind of amusing to watch him discreetly edge away from her whenever she was standing near him. All in all, everyone had fun and the day ended on a happy note.

Currently, they were all standing on the beach ready to send off Simon, Wally, Miliana and Shou who earlier told them about their decision to travel the world and explore. They had been living inside the tower for the majority of their lives so it was understandable that they would want to discover new things and see the world for themselves. Erza looked sad to see her friends go after only recently getting to know them again but she seemed happy that the four had finally found their freedom.

"Well this is it. Again, sorry for the trouble we caused, Erza," Simon said.

Miliana looked at the ground in shame. "Yeah, sorry Er-chan."

Erza smiled. "Don't worry about it. That's all in the past now. What's important is that you're turning the past into the future and are ready to move on."

Shou nodded tearfully. "Thanks nee-san. Thanks to you, we've finally found the freedom we've been looking for."

"With a mind-set like that, you should be able to accomplish anything. I'm relieved. But before you go, there are three rules that I am obliged to tell anybody leaving Fairy Tail so you better listen up," she said, changing into her Fairy Tail farewell armour.

"But we've never even joined Fairy Tail…" Wally correctly pointed out. He was ignored.

"One!" Erza shouted. "You must never reveal sensitive information about Fairy Tail to outsiders as long as you live! Two! You must never use the clients you met through the guild to achieve personal gain! Three!" Erza's voice cracked slightly as her eyes welled with tears. "Though our paths may differ… you must always live out your lives with all your might! Never consider your own life to be insignificant!"

Lucy flinched at this. She had thought that her life was a small price to pay if her friends remained safe. But it hadn't done anything but make them sad. She now knew that her life was as precious as anyone else's and she wasn't going to throw it away as easily as she had done at the Tower of Heaven.

At this point, Erza was spilling tears and was having a hard time speaking but she nevertheless continued. "Never in your lives must you forget the friends you held dear!"

Wally, Miliana, Shou and Simon were all crying, touched by Erza's emotional speech. Lucy smiled. She would never forget her friends even if she was reincarnated a thousand times. They were the closest thing to her heart and she cherished every single one of them.

Erza raised her Fairy Tail flag. "Let the Fairy Tail send-off party begin!"

"You guys! See you again sometime!" Natsu shouted before spitting out balls of fire that travelled to the night sky and exploded into brilliant shades of orange, yellow and red.

"Don't forget the ice!" Gray said, shooting ice crystals into the air that quickly dispersed in beautiful sparkles.

Lucy grinned. Finally, it was her turn. "I guess I'll throw in some stuff as well." She pulled out a gold key and shot a beam of Celestial magic into the air and quickly followed it with a silver beam that painted the sky with a soft silvery glow.

Once the show was over, they all said their final goodbyes. There were lots of tears and hugs involved and it was a very heart-warming scene to watch. With the promise of getting in touch soon, the four teenagers got onto their boat and slowly rowed away into the horizon.

They may have had painful pasts and emotional scars that remained but they were walking forward and slowly taking their steps into the future.

* * *

**From now on, I'm really going to try my best to reply to everyone:**

TailFire: Thank you! Sorry for being away for so long. :) And don't worry, I don't plan on discontinuing this story. I'm far too attached to it now.

Moon Moon Chaos: I'm sorry this isn't what you suggested aha. But the Fighting Festival arc is a very important point in my story so I can't afford to just skip it. You'll see why soon enough! ;)

HinoteRaion: I don't know why I like your username so much but I do XD. And don't fret, I will not drop this story. Thank you for your comment, I'm not worthy of all your praises :) I'm glad you like my approach to this story. For this story, I'm trying to stick to canon as much as possible (except for Lucy lol) so I thought it would be more realistic for the romance to happen very slowly, what with canon Erza's feelings for Jellal and all. And besides, Fairy Tail just isn't the same without adventure/action.

immemorial: Wow, I didn't realise I had such an ability. As for Juvia, I'm trying to make her relationship with Lucy more friendly and close because I find her canon 'rivalry' with Lucy very tiring and annoying. I'm glad my efforts are showing!

forsagia: Don't worry, more feels/angst in future chapters! (Whoops, spoiler XD) Now that this chapter is up, you can stop crying :)

kkmkws: Ah, Lucy will definitely sweep Erza off her feet. It'll happen slowly but it's coming.

Your crazy fan: I've got to say...love your name XD. I'm not very amazing but it won't hurt to pretend ;) And I definitely don't want to break any hearts so I'll continue to update.

**And thank you to everyone who have reviewed, followed and added my story to your favourites. I'm totally honoured. Whenever I run out of motivation, I always go back and read your comments to fuel my inspiration. You guys are the best! **

**P.S) Honestly, the alternate timeline thing? I don't even know... ****Also, I'm totally turning Lucy into a Mary Sue aren't I? Haha But I hope that you can see her slow character development throughout the story as a mage and as a person. I'll try my best to develop all the other characters as well to the best of my ability. **


	19. New Fairy Tail: the tournament begins!

**Whoo! I think this is a pretty quick update for me! Anyway, the Fighting Festival Arc is finally up! I've personally been looking forward to this Arc a lot and you'll eventually find out why. I'm trying to build up Lucy and Erza's romance slowly so bear with me here. I just don't think it would be realistic for Erza to completely forget about Jellal like BAM and turn to Lucy and realise her feelings out of nowhere. This is my interpretation of how these two characters would build their relationship and it's very important to me that it's slow and they reach it gradually. So yeah, you can probably expect some angst-y parts here and there. (Wait, was that a spoiler? XD sorry.) Anyway, enjoy. My replies to reviews will be at the bottom.**

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Once things have settled and everyone had relaxed considerably, Lucy had been bombarded with endless questions concerning her whereabouts during her days of disappearance. She had recounted her experience from the start, telling them all about the alternate timeline and they had all listened with astonished expressions. Of course, she didn't mention the part where she and Erza were dating since that would be awkward.

For the following few days, they spent their time relaxing at the hotel and put their bodies to a well-deserved rest. However, during these days, Lucy couldn't help but notice that despite always having a smile on her face, Erza was far from being completely okay. Whenever Lucy glanced at the requip mage (which was rather often), Erza's eyes were always slightly distant and she only smiled when she was talking to the others. Most likely, she was probably still thinking about Jellal and the Tower of Heaven incident and was most likely beating herself over it. Lucy knew Erza well enough to be able to accurately guess what was going on inside the requip mage's head. Even though Erza had reconciled with her former friends and have cleared up several years' worth of misunderstanding, Lucy understood that it wasn't that easy to get over your past. She knew from experience how hard it was to move on and even when you think you're over it, it still had a way of coming back to haunt you. In fact, it would be weirder if Erza was completely fine and not at all concerned about the incident. Still, she also knew that blaming yourself for everything didn't change anything.

Lucy slid up to the other girl and sat down next to her on the porch that overlooked the more secluded area of the beach. The sky was dark and stars glittered across the dark blue canvas. The soft sounds of waves rushing in and lapping against the shore filled the background and the fresh scent of exotic plants was prominent in the air. The moon wasn't there but it was nonetheless a beautiful, tranquil night. The only person who wasn't tranquil was Erza, who seemed to be having an inner conflict alone in the middle of the night.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Lucy asked with a light tone.

Erza sighed and chuckled wryly. "I'm having millions of thoughts at the same time and they're all over the place right now."

"Then tell me just one of them."

Erza shivered from the cold breeze and it was then that Lucy really noticed what the other girl was wearing: a thin pair of shorts and an equally thin and flimsy tank top. Lucy took off her jacket and offered it to Erza who gratefully took it. It was a bit big for the other girl but she seemed to be comfortable and warm inside it.

"I'm just wondering about Jellal. Is it wrong that I'm still thinking about him when he tried to kill us only a week ago?" Erza asked with a slightly guilty expression. "Even after everything he's done, a part of me still can't seem to accept that he is no longer the person I used know back in the Tower all those years ago. We fought together, supported each other and shared the same dream of gaining freedom along with our friends. A part of me still wishes that I could have saved him…that boy who gave everyone hope and showed me a ray of light in the dark tunnel. I keep thinking, 'If only I was strong enough to save him…' Maybe I really am foolish." Erza clenched her hands. Her eyes were distant, as if she was recalling memories from a faraway place where Lucy would never be able to find.

Lucy turned and stared ahead at the seemingly endless sea. Why was it so painful? Lucy wished the feeling inside her would just go away. She hated that she was having these inner conflicts when she was supposed to be supporting Erza with all her might.

She felt like she was slowly drowning, water filling up her lungs and painfully stopping her breath. Lucy was many things –a Fairy Tail mage, an adrenaline junkie, a training maniac, and sometimes a girl with slightly perverted gay tendencies– but she was definitely not an idiot. She knew love when she saw it and right now, she was seeing it in Erza. Even a blind goat could have seen the love Erza still held for Jellal. It was unfair, a small part of Lucy's mind protested. What had Jellal done for Erza other than turn all her friends against her and make her relieve the painful memories many years later? But a bigger part of her knew that no matter what he had done, he would always hold a special spot in Erza's heart. Even if Erza herself didn't realise it, Lucy knew this for certain. Because she, like Erza, knew with her brain that logically, what she wanted would never happen but her heart ignored all logic and still yearned for it.

_You're not the foolish one, Erza-san… I am. _

"Nobody can decide that for you, Erza-san," Lucy replied. She wanted to say that yes, it was impossible to save Jellal at this point so Erza should just hurry up and forget about him but no matter what her personal opinion was, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. If Erza was in love with Jellal, who was she to try and stop her? Yes, she was in love with Erza and the selfish part of her wanted nothing but for Jellal to stay away forever but the bigger part of her that really loved Erza wanted the girl to be happy. Lucy usually disliked clichés but she was willing to ignore her own feelings if it meant that the person she loved could be happy. So Lucy squashed down any remaining bitterness inside her and added, "But in the last moment at the Tower of Heaven, something made me think that he wasn't as unredeemable as I thought."

Erza's hands slowly unclenched and her features noticeably softened. "I see. That's good to hear." There was a pause before she spoke again. "I'm sorry, Lucy… if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have had to gone through all of that. It was my problem so if there's anybody that should have died that night, it should have been me."

At this, Lucy felt a sudden flare of anger. She shot up and grabbed Erza's shoulders in a tight grip and glared into the other girl's eyes. "Don'tyou _dare _say that again! Stop being sorry for everything! It was _me_ who decided to get involved, not you! It was _me _who voluntarily stayed on the tower by myself to fight Jellal despite knowing the consequences okay? It was ME, not you. You don't own me Erza-san and you don't control my actions. I've already learnt my lesson and I'm not going to do something like that again. So don't_ you _start saying stupid shit like 'I should have died'. How did you feel when you thought I died? Well if you were the one who died, everyone at the guild would have felt the same thing as you did but probably a few times worse since they've known you for a very long time. Don't you _see _Erza-san? You have a family now. You have friends who will gladly follow you to hell and back just to make sure you're safe. You're precious to all of them… to me as well and it'll devastate us if anything happened to you or anyone else in Fairy Tail. You and I both are no longer allowed to selfishly and carelessly throw our lives away because there are people who care about us. So _please…_" Lucy loosened her grip and looked away, her expression pained. Her voice was so low and thick with emotion right now that she barely recognised herself. "_Please _never say something like that again."

Erza's eyes were wide and trembling, most likely affected by the rare outburst from Lucy. The blonde mage hardly ever shouted at her friends in anger and this was the first time Erza experienced Lucy's anger being directed at her. Lucy hadn't meant to shout but Erza's comment had immediately switched on something inside her that caused her to see red for a moment and before she knew it, she was grabbing onto the other girl's shoulders and squeezing them harshly. She didn't regret anything she said but she felt guilty about taking her anger out on Erza. To her horror, tears slowly trailed down Erza's cheeks and the redhead lowered her head.

Lucy panicked. "I'm sorry! I uh, I didn't mean to shout- I mean, it's just…" she stammered uselessly. She clenched her teeth, irritated at her own lack of eloquence.

Erza shook her head. "No, _I'm _sorry, I shouldn't have said that. You're right, Lucy. You and everyone else saved my life. I definitely won't throw it away carelessly," Erza said softly yet determinedly with a shaky voice.

Then, she did something that completely caught the blonde mage off guard. She reached her arms forward and pulled Lucy towards her before burying her face into the crook of Lucy's neck. Lucy's first reaction was to stiffen but when she felt her neck becoming wet with Erza's silent tears, she quickly relaxed and used her arms to pull Erza closer to her. She buried her face into Erza's soft red hair and breathed in her gentle and familiar scent. She felt her heart thudding painfully against her chest and she quickly attempted to slow down her heart rate by breathing in and out slowly. Still, she probably wouldn't get a chance like this again so she wanted to savour the moment.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," Lucy apologised, her voice slightly muffled by Era's hair.

Erza tightened her hold on Lucy. "No, it's okay. I deserved it anyway. You're right about what you said and I promise I won't say anything like that again."

"Thank you."

They stayed like that for what seemed to be an eternity but eventually pulled apart. Lucy offered a smile and received back a genuine one from Erza who, despite having remainders of tear streaks on her cheeks, looked considerably less troubled than she had been for the last few days.

"Thank you for everything, Lucy. I'm sorry you had to see such a weak side of me," Erza said apologetically.

Lucy shook her head. "Please don't be sorry. It's not weak to cry. It takes an entirely different kind of strength and courage to put your trust into someone else and depend on them. I'm really happy that you trust me enough to share your worries and allow me to support you. Please don't hesitate to depend on me more in the future because I'll always be there for you." Lucy put on her best smile as she made the promise. She tried her best to suppress the fluttering feeling inside her chest when Erza gave her the most dazzling and beautiful smile she had ever seen.

Lucy constantly tried to remind herself that she was just doing this as a friend. They were just friends. Friends were allowed to support each other. She didn't want to betray Erza's feelings by wishing for something more. She knew it would never happen anyway.

But still, it really wasn't fair that Erza was allowed to smile like that. How was Lucy supposed to ignore her feelings when she was being given such smiles?

Really, at this rate, Lucy didn't think she would be able to keep it up for very long.

000

"Whoa!" Natsu exclaimed in shock.

The rest of team Natsu were in a similar state. All of them were staring at the new Fairy Tail building with slacked jaws.

"Are you sure we're not at the wrong guild or something?" Ria asked, still having a hard time believing what she was seeing.

"No, this is definitely Fairy Tail," Lucy said, pointing above at the name plate on the entrance gate that read 'FAIRY TAIL' in big fancy letters. However, she could definitely understand how her friend was feeling. She knew that the new guild hall they had been working on was supposed to be bigger and better but she hadn't expected it to be quite this big. It was at least three stories high and stretched wide across the area in terms of width. All the windows were beautifully decorated and the architecture and design of the building were top notch. It was massive, majestic and completely over the top. In other words, it fit Fairy Tail to a 'T'. Also, the small perfectionist side of her was extremely satisfied to see that the building was beautifully symmetrical and that the bricks were evenly stacked.

"Hey, welcome back," one of their guild mates greeted as they slowly entered through the gate.

"Bet you're surprised huh? Here's the brand new guild!" another proudly exclaimed.

Lucy looked around curiously. They now apparently had an open-air café and even a small souvenir stand next to the entrance which Max was currently running.

Max looked up and waved. "Welcome back you guys! Come here and have a look at our souvenir shop! We have Fairy Tail T-shirts, wrist bands, towels, mugs and even special lacrima crystals. But the most popular item we've got are the mage figures!" he said, taking out a figure of Lucy who was in her usual outfit with her hands casually inside her pocket. There were figures of every guild members and Lucy secretly vowed that she would come back by herself and buy all of them. She couldn't help but think that if Juvia was here, she would definitely go crazy over the Gray merchandises.

Before any of them could comment, Cana ran over to them with a cheerful greeting and pulled them inside the guild hall. The space inside was massive and rows and rows of tables were neatly set up. People were eating and laughing quietly amongst themselves whilst the waitresses were taking orders and chatting with the customers. Lucy noticed that they were wearing a new outfit. They were then led to the pool behind the bar where a few of Fairy Tail members were having fun swimming. Downstairs, a new entertainment centre was set up with all sorts of activities such as pool and dart throwing. They also found that now, everyone was allowed to go to the second floor although Cana quickly told them that you still needed a S-class mage in your team to go on a S-class mission. Although everything was awesome and exciting, Lucy couldn't help but feel that something crucial was missing. Glancing at Natsu, it was apparent that he also felt the same way judging from his glum expression.

Whilst they were still adapting to the new guild hall, master approached them with Juvia in tow. "So you're back are you?" he asked as he came to stop before them. He gestured towards the water mage who smiled at them shyly. "This is Juvia, our newest member. Cute, isn't she?"

Lucy had to agree. Juvia hair was noticeably much shorter than before and although she kind of missed the curls, she had to admit that this look suited the girl quite well.

"It's good to see you all again," Juvia said with a smile. "Juvia will do her best in Fairy Tail!"

Erza nodded and gave Juvia a welcoming smile. "Juvia, I didn't get the chance to say this yet but thanks for the help you gave us back there."

"Haha, so you've finally joined up huh?" Gray said with a grin. Juvia looked like she was about to faint from happiness. Lucy grinned. The girl was so simple and easy to please.

"I'm glad you took my advice, Juvia-san," Lucy said warmly. "Welcome to Fairy Tail. I promise you that you will not find anywhere else that's similar to this guild. We're just a one big family and I'm sure you'll settle down in no time."

Juvia's smile widened. "Thank you, Lucy-san. Juvia will definitely repay everyone's kindness!"

"Oh, and there's one more new member I'd like you to meet," Makarov said, turning to a nearby table where a dark figure was sitting by himself. "Hey! Come and introduce yourself!"

Slowly, the figure stood up and as everyone's attention drew to him, Lucy was surprised to see the angry expression on Natsu and Gray's faces. Even Happy seemed to be extremely shocked.

"Gajeel?!" Natsu shouted, gritting his teeth. "What's this punk doing here?"

Lucy tilted her head in confusion as she inspected their newest member. He was tall and well-muscled with long, spiky black hair and lots of studs on his nose, mouth and ear. She didn't recognise him. "Do we know him?" she asked.

"He's the person who destroyed our guild and attacked team Shadow gear. He's also a Dragon Slayer, like Natsu," Erza explained in a strained voice.

Immediately, Lucy's eyes hardened and she felt a hot flash of anger. However, she quickly suppressed the feeling and pushed aside her animosity. She was in too much of a good mood for someone to ruin it. And she trusted Makarov's decision. If he thought that this Gajeel guy was trustworthy, then Lucy would also give the guy some benefit of doubt.

"Master! What kind of joke is this?!" Gray shouted.

Juvia interjected, looking slightly panicked. "Wait! Juvia was the one who brought him here! Gajeel-kun always looked so lonely, Juvia couldn't bear to just leave him alone…"

"Now now," Makarov attempted to calm them down. "He was only acting on Jose's orders back then. You know what they say: yesterday's enemies are today's friends…" he trailed off as he was distracted by a waitress walking by.

Natsu growled. "Stop screwing around! I can't work with a guy like that!"

Gajeel scowled and confronted the pink haired mage. "Oh don't worry. I have no intentions of being buddy-buddy with you."

Before Natsu could retaliate and a fight could break out, the guild hall suddenly went pitch black. They were pushed to a table by Cana who seemed to have showed up from nowhere. "Hurry up! The show's about to start!" As they sat down, Lucy could see a huge stage in front of them. The spotlight came on and it revealed Mirajane who was sitting on a stool holding a guitar. The crowd started chanting her name and everyone seemed to be hyped up about the show.

As the noise died down, a gentle melody filled the hall and Mirajane's warm and melodic voice started singing. The lyrics were sweet and touching and everyone was admiring the performance. Although Lucy was immensely enjoying the performance – from her vantage, she had a rather nice view of the eldest Strauss' long creamy legs – she couldn't help but get the feeling that something was about to start. Whether it was going be a good thing or a bad thing, she wasn't sure of.

Suddenly, she heard Natsu's voice angrily yelling from the opposite side of the table. Lucy grinned. There it was.

Not before long, the table was flipped over and Lucy quickly jumped up to avoid being hit by the piece of furniture. She laughed in amusement when she saw the object simply passing through Juvia's body. Gray abruptly got to his feet and shouted at Natsu. What he didn't notice was that he had just bumped into Erza and had caused her to drop her plate of strawberry cake that she had been enjoying. As a murderous rage took over the redhead's features, Lucy wisely backed away. Unfortunately, Elfman didn't seem to have the same kind of wisdom and stood up and slapped a random guy for talking during Mirajane's performance. This caused Erza to snap and she angrily kicked Elfman all the way across the room. Natsu on the other hand, was picking fights with everyone he came across and was causing chaos. Lucy laughed, watching the chaotic scene with glee. She knew that something had been missing. In the end, Fairy Tail just wasn't the same without constant mayhem and destruction. With a wide grin, she joined in on the fighting.

In the meantime, Mirajane had picked up on the change of mood and started playing an upbeat rock song to fit the atmosphere.

"Why can't they just be calm for one day…Tomorrow's the day the reporter comes to collect data on our guild!" Turning to the still fighting teenagers, Makarov shouted, "Cut it out, you lowlifes! Clean this place up!" When nobody seemed to be listening to him, he started transforming into his giant form and smacked away any trouble makers.

000

When the next day arrived, Ria was quick to remind Lucy about the reporter from Sorcerer Weekly who would be visiting their guild today. Lucy had been asked to be present at the interview and she had easily agreed.

"Remember to smile and make a good impression. And_ please_ try and not be weird and embarrass us both. You're a big fan of the magazine right? Then I'm sure you can make an effort to follow these simple requests," Ria said as they got ready to start heading towards the guild hall.

"I'll try my best," Lucy said. It was true that she had always been a big fan of the magazine. She had bought every single copy ever since she was little. There was always something interesting in the magazine and it helped her to catch up on new guilds or well-known mages. Of course, it didn't hurt that there were always full sized pictures of stunning and gorgeous girls wearing (or sometimes not wearing) beautiful clothing and posing in various cute and sexy positions. Of course, she was fully dedicated to Erza but she was only human (well, part vampire but that wasn't the point) and was unfortunately weak against temptation.

"And don't make that face," Ria's voice cut through her thoughts.

Lucy frowned. "What face?"

Ria glared. "The 'I'm-thinking-about-something-perverted-right-now' face. Other people may not be able to see the difference but I've known you long enough to know it when I see it. You may have successfully tricked the others but I know of your true nature. No, stop!" Ria cut Lucy off just as she opened her mouth to protest. "Don't you dare deny it. You know I'm speaking the truth."

Lucy closed her mouth and glared slightly. So what if she enjoyed looking at beautiful girls and appreciated their beauty? There was nothing wrong with that. It wasn't as if she was planning on doing anything to them, let alone speak to them. Ria seemed to think that Lucy was some kind of sexual predator who didn't know how to control her lust. The girl obviously didn't know what a real pervert was like if she thought that Lucy was one.

"Whatever. We're dropping this subject," Lucy grumbled. "Come on, let's get the interview over and done with."

When they entered the guild hall, they were met by the usual sight of people screaming and running around and generally being rowdy and making a huge mess. Nobody seemed to care that a reporter was on his way to interview the guild.

"Aaand they're at it again," Ria said with a sigh.

"Well, it can't be helped. This kind of spirit of Fairy Tail is not bad is it? There's no point trying to be something we're not," Erza said, as she approached them.

Lucy nodded. "I agree. Good morning, Erza-san. Are you ready for the interview?"

At this, Erza's eyes sparkled and she made a movement of adjusting her armour, despite it already looking spotless and perfect. "Of course!" Speaking of armour, Lucy noticed that Erza was wearing a new one.

"Is that a new brand of armour?" Lucy asked.

"Indeed. It's a new design by Heart Kreuz. It's very comfortable and I've taken a liking to it. What do you think?"

"Hm…I think it suits you very well," Lucy gave her honest opinion. Although to be fair, she wasn't exactly the best person to go to if you wanted an unbiased opinion about anything related to Erza. The redhead could be wearing a smelly bin bag with bits of trash decorating her hair and Lucy would still find her attractive.

Just then, a shrill voice interrupted their conversation. "Oh! Titania Erza. Oh my god, the real person! Cool! Cool! Coooool!" Lucy turned and saw a man running excitedly towards the two of them. His hair resembled an upside down ice cream cone and he had the newest brand of camera hung around his neck. "The real Erza is so cool!" Undoubtedly, this man was the reporter. Already, Lucy could tell that he was going to be a pain in the ass.

He briskly walked past Lucy and went straight to Erza. "Hi, my name is Jason and I'm the reporter from Sorcerer Weekly. Could I ask you some questions?"

"Go ahead," Erza replied.

"How many armours do you use to requip?"

"More than a hundred."

"Coool!" Jason yelled. "What's your favourite armour?"

Erza did not even hesitate. "The bunny suit."

Hearing this, Lucy almost choked on air. She would hardly consider a bunny suit as an armour but it certainly painted a pleasant imagery inside her mind. Her eyes grew slightly glazed as she imagined Erza lying on the ground wearing a bunny suit. She glared at Ria when she was slapped on the cheek.

"Favourite food?" Jason continued to question.

Without realising what she was doing, Lucy automatically answered, "It's cheesecake and soufflé. Although, Erza-san just really likes pastry in general."

Both Erza and Jason turned to look at her in surprise. Lucy held back a wince when she realised that she had just rudely interrupted the redhead's interview. "Sorry," she apologised. "It just slipped out."

Suddenly, Jason gasped. "You must be Lucy! The one who is rumoured to be able to take down a mountain using a single hand whilst blindfolded! The one who is rumoured to eat children for dinner! Are these rumours true?!"

"What kind of weird rumours are those?" Ria said in annoyance.

"I'm afraid I don't eat children for dinner. As for the mountain, I haven't tried it yet but perhaps I will sometime in the future," Lucy answered.

Jason furiously scribbled down notes as he frantically nodded. "Cool! That's so cool!"

"What is?" Ria said in exasperation.

"What is your relationship status? Surely a cool person like you must have lots of guys chasing after you?" Jason asked randomly.

Lucy shrugged. "Not really. Besides, I'm only interested in girls. They're much cuter, no offense to the male population." She then quickly realised that she had probably just outed herself to the rest of Fiore who was going to read the next edition of Sorcerer Weekly. Oops. Oh well, it couldn't be helped. She knew that everyone in Fairy Tail already knew about this but they didn't mind and accepted her for who she was. She had the acceptance of her friends so she didn't really care what the rest of the world thought about her.

"COOOL!" Jason shouted loudly, startling everyone in the vicinity. He was once again scribbling onto his notepad like a possessed man. Lucy could only hope that Jason wouldn't somehow use this information and come up with something utterly ridiculous about her, like her wanting a harem of cute girls or anything else equally weird.

When he finished writing, he quickly dashed off to interview the other guild members.

"That was quite forward of you, Lucy," Erza said with an amused smile.

"Well, it was better than lying."

From the other end of the room, she heard Natsu shouting and caught sight of Jason being punched away by the Dragon Slayer from the corner of her eyes.

Before anything else could happen, the lights went off and for the second time in two consecutive days, the guild hall was plunged into complete darkness. People started cheering for Mirajane and Lucy was looking forward to another performance from the older girl but her expectations were shattered when the spotlight came on and she saw Gajeel sitting on a stool holding a guitar. He was wearing a stylish white suit and seemed to be preparing for a performance. Everyone expressed their shock when they saw that it was Gajeel sitting on the stage rather than Mirajane.

Gajeel started singing despite the confusion and at first, his melody was actually kind of nice and thoughtful. Lucy could tell that he was actually trying to fit in and get along with everyone in Fairy Tail in his own way. But then, he started properly singing his song which he called 'best friend' and Lucy had to grimace at the horrible tune. The lyrics no longer made any sense and the melody didn't fit with his singing at all. From then, everything was a chaos but Jason seemed to be greatly enjoying himself. Although now Lucy had to wonder what exactly was going to be published on the magazine a few days later. Probably things that were only going to make their reputation worse than before. Still, as Erza had said earlier, it was better to be natural than be something they were not. Sure, they weren't your usual magic guild and they had a penchant for mucking about and destroying things but when it came down to it, they did all their jobs in a way that was far beyond what was expected of them and they spent each day of their lives having fun.

000

A few days later when Lucy bought her usual copy of Sorcerer Weekly, she was not as surprised as she should have been when she read the section featuring herself and found that she was apparently planning on destroying all the mountains in Fiore and is currently looking for cute girls to date. Also, she was portrayed as some kind of player who never stayed in one relationship. Lucy rolled her eyes. She had not even had her first kiss (the one with the other timeline's Erza not counting) let alone a relationship. To put it lightly, the magazine greatly exaggerated and this went the same for everyone else in the guild. Although, she had to chuckle when she saw the picture of a furious Natsu slapping the hell out of Jason.

Currently, she was standing by herself in front of the request board looking for a job. Ria was talking to Mirajane at the bar whilst Lucy was picking the job. Gray and Juvia had gone out together to sort out a problem (much to the water mage's delight), Erza had rushed off to complain to the poor Heart Kreuz Company for making the armour too tight and Natsu and Happy had apparently stayed at home to tidy up their mess. Next to her, Nab was also staring intensely at the request board although Lucy didn't understand why he did since he never took one. Scanning her eyes over the board, she contemplated all the available jobs. There was a treasure hunting job, an errand job and even a job that requested mages to teach at a magic school for kids but in the end, she decided to go with the one that offered the most amount of jewels which was a job asking for mages to hunt down some monsters. Just as she was about to reach over and take it, someone reached across her and snatched away the magic teaching job request. Glancing at the person attached to the arm, she was slightly surprised to see that it was Gajeel. She hadn't pegged him to be a type to take on such jobs but she supposed it wasn't fair to judge a book by its cover.

"Aspiring to be a teacher, Gajeel-san?" she asked lightly.

The Iron Dragon Slayer scowled. "Butt out of my business."

"I was just asking. I didn't think you would enjoy being around kids but perhaps I was wrong. Or maybe I was projecting my own discomfort onto you since you seem rather anti-social," Lucy observed. Suddenly, she was struck with an interesting idea. "In that case, as an apology for assuming, I will gladly accompany you on this job. You can keep all the reward."

Gajeel's eyes widened for a second before his scowl deepened. "What? No! I don't want your stupid help. And didn't you just say that you don't like kids?"

"I did not say that. I merely implied that I feel slightly uneasy around them but that doesn't mean I dislike them. In fact, I'm sure this will be a good learning experience for the both of us. Now, shall we go? The day doesn't wait for us."

"Oi, don't just go and decide that by yourself."

"Well, either way, you won't be able to get rid of me so I suggest you start getting used to the idea."

For a few minutes, they had a stare off. Gajeel gave Lucy his most intimidating glare but the blond mage didn't even react, already accustomed to receiving much scarier looks. She merely smiled back in an easy-going manner. They stared at each other without blinking and neither budged but after a while, Gajeel's eyes started twitching and they blinked, effectively breaking the staring contest.

"Tch, do whatever you want," Gajeel said in annoyance. Under his breath, he added, "How the fuck does she keep her eyes open for so long? Freaky woman."

Unfortunately for him, Lucy had a good hearing so she was able to hear his every word. She smirked at him knowingly, only to receive another irritated glare.

"If you're going to insist on tagging along like a parasite, then meet me at the station later. I've got something to sort out first," Gajeel said before walking out of the guild.

"Make sure you don't ditch me, Gajeel-san because I have my ways of knowing where people are and I will definitely come and find you," Lucy called out after him. She wasn't sure if he had heard her or not but she shrugged. Like she said, she had her ways and she would just track him down if he didn't show up.

Seeing that she now had some free time, she walked to where Mirajane and Ria were talking by the back of the guild hall. Mirajane appeared to be having a break from her waitressing duties and seemed to be having fun talking to the Elfling. "Good morning, Mira-san," Lucy greeted the older girl with a smile.

Mirajane beamed, happy that Lucy was using the nickname. "Good morning, Lucy! I thought you were going on a job?"

Lucy's smile widened at the other girl's enthusiasm. Mirajane was just so bright and cheerful all the time that Lucy could never stay in a bad mood when she was around her. It was as if the girl had some kind of happiness infection that she went around spreading to everyone. Without Mirajane, Fairy Tail would surely feel like a completely different place. Although, she had heard some rumours about the girl being a completely different person when she was younger. Apparently, she had even earned the nickname 'Demon'. Lucy had a hard time imagining Mirajane as anything other than gentle and kind and she desperately wished she had been there in person to witness Earthland Mirajane's younger self. But regardless, in both Earth and Earthland, Mirajane had done a lot for Lucy and for that, she was forever grateful towards the older girl. If Mirajane was in any kind of trouble and needed help, Lucy was prepared to come flashing to the girl's side at a moment's notice. That's how much she cared about the other girl.

"I am. I'm just here to tell Ria that I've decided to go on a job with Gajeel-san," Lucy replied. She then turned to Ria. "Do you still want to come with us?"

Ria crinkled her nose in contemplation. "I don't know. I don't quite feel comfortable with Gajeel just yet so I think I'll pass. Have fun."

Lucy nodded. "Okay, that's fine. I'll make sure I'm back by tonight."

"Stay safe, Lucy," Mirajane said.

Lucy smiled back gently. "I will, thank you."

As she walked away from the two, she weighed the option of walking to the station or teleporting there. In the end, seeing as the weather was nice and walking was a healthy activity, she decided to go with the first option. When she arrived at the station, she only had to wait for a few minutes until Gajeel showed up. However to her surprise, he was battered and looked as if he just got out of a fight.

"What happened?" she asked curiously.

Gajeel shrugged. "Nothing. Just some disagreement."

Lucy was curious and wanted to know what had happened to the Dragon Slayer but she decided not the push the matter. "Okay, if you say so. Let's just hurry up and take the next train." She was slightly amused to see Gajeel's face paling slightly at the mention of transportation.

"Ugh, I hate trains," he grumbled.

Lucy smirked and cruelly did not mention that she could teleport the both of them to the destination in an instant. She had a strong feeling that a fun day was waiting ahead of her.

A sudden thought entered her mind and she turned to Gajeel with a wide grin. "Before we go, you might want to fix your appearance. We don't want to scare away all the kids before we can even do our job." Her grin just grew impossibly wider when Gajeel silently gave her the middle finger. Something about making fun of the Dragon Slayer was very addictive. Well, Lucy did always have a small sadistic streak.

When they eventually got on the train, Gajeel immediately slumped into his seat and hung his head with a loud, suffering, tortured groan. Lucy didn't even try to hide her snicker of amusement at the familiar scene that was happening in front of her. Gajeel raised his head weakly and scowled at the blonde mage as best as he could. He made a move of kicking her leg but quickly had to stop when the train made a particularly bumpy motion. His face took on a sickly green hue and he made many miserable retching noises.

Lucy, being the piece of shit she was, asked in an overly concerned voice, "Are you feeling okay, Gajeel-san?" When her only answer was another gagging sound and a weak groan, she dropped all façade and chuckled.

Definitely a great day.

000

Gajeel was, very surprisingly, rather good with kids. He got along with them well and the class just seemed to hang onto his every word. (Although, she did wonder if Gajeel's popularity with the kids was simply due to the fact that they had a similar way of thinking.) Thankfully, they did not destroy any property and the kids remained unscarred by the end of their time at the school. As the day went on, Lucy could tell that Gajeel was slowly getting used to her presence and their relationship had improved to the point where the Dragon Slayer no longer felt the need to constantly keep a sour expression when she was around. Although they weren't exactly best friends or anything, they were able to make a silent agreement between themselves and spoke to each other civilly. For only spending less than day with each other, Lucy considered this to be a huge progress.

When she arrived at Fairy Hills and entered her room, she was greeted by a curious Ria who wanted her to relate the day's events. When Lucy finished telling her story, the other girl had stared in shock before shrugging and accepting the situation.

After they finished their conversation, Ria quickly took a shower and Lucy started getting prepared for her night of training. Since she never got any sleep at night anyway, Lucy had decided that it would be good to use her free time productively by training and honing her skills. Usually, she did this by teleporting to a faraway wood and training by herself all night before teleporting back to her room, getting ready for the day and heading for the guild. Sometimes it was tiring but most of the time, she had fun and revelled in it. In her opinion, one should never slack off from training, no matter how strong they were. There was always something to improve on and something new to learn. It was this mind-set that allowed her to never become arrogant and always aim to better herself.

Just as she was about to head out and start her night of training, Ria stopped her, apparently remembering something.

"Oh yeah, by the way, Mira reminded me this morning but it's Magnolia's Harvest Festival next week and Fairy Tail's going to take part in it. She also mentioned that there's going to be a Miss Fairy Tail contest so if you want to join, you should. The prize is 500000 jewels. Apparently, Mira and Erza are both going to take part in the contest. Do you want to join?" Ria said.

Lucy stopped in her tracks and a large smile took over her face. Whoever it was that came up with the idea of this contest should be hugely rewarded. What wasn't enjoyable about watching beautiful girls compete to see who was the most beautiful and charming? Plus, Erza and Mirajane were participating and that alone was a reason enough for Lucy to be excited.

Ria sighed. "Judging from your expression, you're not going to participate, are you? Sometimes, I know you too well for my own good."

Lucy scoffed. "Why would I join the contest when I could be sitting front row in the audience and enjoying the show instead?"

"See? I know you too well."

Lucy ignored the comment. "I'm really looking forward the Harvest Festival now. I wish it would come sooner than later."

"Goodnight Lucy. I think you should start your training now."

"I can imagine it now… I seriously can't wait…"

"Lucy, just go already."

"I wonder what they're going to wear. Erza-san is going to win, of course… Although, Mira-san might come pretty close. But then again, the others don't exactly fall far behind…"

"Lucy, seriously, SHUT UP!"

000

"I'm gonna eat lots of delicious food until I throw up!" Natsu yelled enthusiastically.

"Then what's the point of eating the food in the first place?" Ria deadpanned.

"Aye! I want to keep the food inside," Happy added cheerfully.

They were walking the streets of Magnolia along with Gray and Juvia and they were on their way to the place where the Miss Fairy Tail contest was about to take place. The streets were full of excited people and the level of chatter was louder than usual. Thanks to the Fantasia, many people from other towns were visiting Magnolia which made the atmosphere even livelier than it usually was. The Festival was always a good way of attracting tourists and raising a lot of money for the town. Of course, it didn't hurt that the best guild in Fiore was in the town.

"Are you going to enter Miss Fairy Tail, Juvia-san?" Lucy asked.

Juvia nodded with a determined face. "Yes… and Juvia will not lose to her love rivals."

Gray gave the water mage an exasperated look. "Why is everyone a love rival to you?"

"Everyone is vying for Gray-sama's attention. Of course that makes them Juvia's rivals in love!"

"Nobody is vying for his attention except for you," Ria said. However, Juvia was already off drifting in her own world, probably fantasising about something or other that only she could ever come up with.

"We should hurry. I believe the contest is about to start. I want to get there early and secure a good seat," Lucy said, quickening her pace.

"Lucy-san isn't participating?" Juvia asked.

Lucy grinned. "Of course not. That wouldn't be fun at all."

Gray and Ria sighed, both of them completely aware of her reasons for not participating. Natsu and Happy were still raving about food and Juvia merely tilted her head to the side in confusion. Together, they were able to quickly arrive at the guild hall where the contest was taking place and were surprised at the huge crowd of people that were already inside. Juvia quickly headed to the preparation room as she was a participant. Unfortunately, due to the massive crowd, Lucy and the others were not able to secure front row positions so they had to make do with a small space by the centre of the hall. Natsu didn't seem particularly interested in the contest and kept drifting off to sleep. Gray was mildly curious about it and Ria and Happy were just messing around. The only one out of them who was really pumped up for it was Lucy. She was eagerly waiting for the contest to start. Thankfully, the hall filled up pretty quickly and Max stepped onto stage and started the introduction to the competition.

"People of Magnolia and nearby towns! What you have all been eagerly waiting for! The Fairy Tail beauties will soon perform on this stage! When they enter, make sure to give each of them a massive round of applause and lots of cheering! Now, let the contest begin!" Max shouted into his microphone.

The crowd went wild and gave a loud cheer, the sound being loud enough to shake the floor.

"May I present to you, Cana Alberona!" Max announced.

Cana immediately stepped onto stage wearing a slightly more modest version of her usual outfit and the crowd hollered in delight. Cana wasted no time and took out a stack of cards and they all flew around her, covering her body until they disappeared and revealed Cana in a skimpy swimsuit. There was a huge noise of approval from the audience and Cana smirked. Even without speaking to the girl, Lucy could already tell what the Card mage was thinking. She was most likely planning to spend the prize money on more alcohol.

"Second contestant, the new member of Fairy Tail, the lovely Miss Juvia!"

Juvia stepped on stage to the cheering of the audience and gave them a smile before her body promptly shifted into its water form. When the water gathered and shifted Juvia back to her human form, she was also wearing a bikini that left a lot of her skin exposed. There was hardly anything left to the imagination and Lucy felt a sudden surge of protectiveness when she saw the guy standing next to her making an overly perverted gesture to his friend and had to restrain herself from decking his face.

"And now, here is the third contestant! Her beauty can make all the men on Earthland drunk! Mirajane Strauss!"

Most people in the crowd seemed to recognise her and they all gave an extremely enthusiastic response, Lucy being one of them. Mirajane smiled sweetly and announced that she would be performing transformation magic. Lucy had to stop herself from choking with laughter when Mirajane transformed her face into Happy's. When the white haired girl then proceeded to transform her face into Gajeel's, Lucy just couldn't hold it in anymore and collapsed to the ground, clutching her stomach. Well, now she definitely knew who she should go to if she felt depressed and needed a good laugh.

"Now for our fourth contestant, the strongest woman in Fairy Tail, Erza Scarlet!"

Lucy immediately straightened and focused her attention to the stage with a whole new level of intensity. Erza was standing on stage in her usual armour but even that was enough to completely put the audience into a state of admiration and awe. There was just something about the redhead that caused people to listen to her and follow her. But then, Erza surprised everyone when she requiped and showed herself wearing a style of clothing that Lucy had never seen her wear before. The colour scheme of her outfit was simple yet effective and the tight corset around her midsection really helped to emphasise her chest as well as her slim waist. The skirt was teasingly short but not too short to be categorised as inappropriate. Her high heeled leather boots helped to accentuate her toned legs and made them look even longer than they already did. To top it off, her red hair was tied into a neat ponytail with a black ribbon, giving her a slightly innocent appearance. If given the chance, Lucy probably could have spent a whole day describing Erza's outfit but she was currently too busy trying to ingrain the image into her brain.

Although Lucy's main highlight of the show was already over, she still enjoyed watching the rest of the competitors performing their little piece on stage. Levy had decorated the whole stage with her solid script magic and appealed to the crowd with her cuteness. Bisca had demonstrated her excellent skills with guns and drove the crowd wild with her sexy cowgirl outfit.

Just as Max was about to conclude the contest, a new presence entered the stage and shocked everyone into silence. Lucy's eyes widened when she saw who it was. She hadn't seen the girl in such a long time and couldn't help but feel slightly nostalgic as she stared at the familiar figure.

"Number seven. If you talk about Fairy, then it's me. If you talk about beauty, then it's me. That's right, it's all me. The champion will definitely be me, Evergreen!" the woman declared, waving her fan. As she did that, the curtain fell dramatically and revealed all six previous contestants who had been turned to stone. The crowd started panicking and before long, everyone had ran out of the hall in fear of being turned to stone.

Makarov seethed in rage. "What are you doing here Evergreen?! You fool, turn them back to normal!"

Before Evergreen could reply, a flash of lightning hit the stage and Laxus, along with Freed and Bickslow, now stood in its place.

"Why don't we play a game, old geezer?" Laxus said with a vicious grin. Suddenly, another lightning shot towards one of the girls who had been turned to stone and barely missed her by few inches. Laxus walked up to Cana and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, the grin still on his face. "I'll take these girls as hostages and I'll destroy them one by one if you break the rules."

"There are things that can't be taken as a joke, Laxus!" Makarov said, his eyes blazing with anger towards his grandson.

"Of course, I'm completely serious," Laxus said, his face twisted with malice.

Freed stepped forward. "It's just a game to determine who is the strongest in Fairy Tail. The rules are simple. The last survivor wins." Next to him, Bickslow grinned, sticking out his tongue and showing his Fairy Tail mark.

Laxus laughed and the sound was harsh and full of arrogance. "Fairy Tail fight starts now!" he announced, throwing his arms out.

Well, things had certainly taken an interesting turn.

* * *

**Now for my replies:**

TailFire: Sorry I took your sleep away from you. I personally love sleeping so you know I'm being genuine XD. But psshh, who needs sleep when you can read a new chapter? Hopefully this time, your not planning to sleep when I update this. I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Also, Lucy will get her happy ending...eventually. (And she will definitely push Erza down at some point ;)) *cough* I swear I'm not a pervert.

KiiroNoKitsune: We'll see...we shall see

forsagia: Don't know about a best seller but as long as I can make people happy with my writing, I will continue to do so. Thank you!

Moon Moon Chaos: Hahaha, I don't know why your comment cracked me up so much but it did. Thank you for that. (Sempai has noticed you again)

kotomi101: Thank you, that definitely motivates me to try harder.

HinoteRaion: I agree. Who wants to do schoolwork. (Which is why I'm spending my time writing fanfictions when I should be studying for tests) Lucy will get to have even more fun (read: always be the one to draw the short end of the straw). I have so many things I want to do with her magic, she's surely going to become overpowered as hell. Oh well, can't be more than Goku...right? *sweats* And I read your comment and I was like 'why the hell did I leave that out?!'. Seriously, I was so absorbed in the reunion that I kinda forgot they don't know what the hell happened to Lucy. Thanks for your comment.

kkmkws: Hopefully this is another speedy comeback :) And I'm happy to hear that you're enjoying it. I hope you'll stick with me till the end.

Huggler: Hello, loyal fan XD Sorry, I'm just happy to hear that you've been keeping up with every update. I know I can be a pain in the ass with my lateness and delays. Honestly, when I first started writing this story it was just a small idea. I didn't even fully plan Lucy's character and had no idea what her personality was fully and didn't have a solid backstory for her. But soon, more ideas started forming and it eventually grew into this. Is it weird that I sometimes forget that my version of Lucy is not the one in canon so when I read the manga, I'm surprise for a second XD. Not that I don't like the Lucy in canon, it's just that I'm so used to my version. Anyway, to answer your question, I will go through the arcs in order, add my own twists to it and develop Lucy and Erza's relationship steadily throughout the arcs. I might take some liberty with the time periods between the arcs and have some side stories but I don't expect to write a fully original arc unless it'll progress the plot in some way and I'm happy with the idea. But yeah, mostly, I'll follow the arcs in the manga. (I'm sorry but the anime fillers are kind of horrible)

GoldenPiggy: That's a cool name actually. Don't be surprised if I steal it in future chapters XD. Of course, I'm going to work to come up with a cool name. And yes, it is Wendy (and Charle). I'm surprised you remembered such a tiny detail. I'm pretty sure it was only mentioned once in the story. Thanks for the comment.

zombiekins5948: Don't worry. She'll stay powerful and grow even more strong. Stronger than Natsu *GASP* The HORROR! Haha, sorry but yeah. Thank you for reading.

**Aaand that's done. Whew. It's kind of fun to reply to comments. It might be a while till the next chapter because I want the next two chapters to be the best that it can be and that means a lot of planning and several stages of editing. I think it'll be worth the wait though and it won't be THAT long. **

**Until next time. **


	20. Fairy Tail vs Fairy Tail

**A/N: Okay, so I know I said I probably won't be updating until September but after I posted the notice, I was overwhelmed by the amount of support you all showed me and I just felt a burst of inspiration to finish this chapter. So...surprise? Also, I felt bad for kind of leaving the story hanging during the middle of the arc so I will most likely post chapter 21 (the last chapter of this arc) by the end of June and then write throughout the holidays to start updating regularly again by September. Sorry for making you still wait but I thought that doing this was better than nothing. **

**Once again, thank you for your positive comments. It really did wonders to inspire me and I honestly nearly teared up at how understanding and supportive you all are. I'm pretty damn lucky to have such loyal and perfect readers like you. I hope you enjoy this chapter! I haven't written in a while so I might be rusty but I hope you like it nonetheless. **

**(My replies to reviews are at the bottom)**

* * *

The last time Lucy saw Laxus, it was during the Phatom Lord's attack when Mirajane had called him for help via a communication lacrima. He hadn't exactly given the best impression and Lucy doubted that she had either. As she inspected the man, she couldn't help but be disappointed by what she saw. He was definitely strong and powerful but he wasn't the person she remembered him to be. In the past, he had helped Lucy develop her combat skills and guided her through difficult techniques that she struggled with. Even though he always said he couldn't be bothered, she knew that he enjoyed teaching her and felt pride in watching her grow as a mage and a fighter. The Laxus she knew genuinely cared about his family and friends despite his tough and 'I-don't-give-a-shit' exterior. He was standoffish and liked to tease and make fun of the other guild members, sure, but he was never outright cruel or malicious. In the end, he had the best interest of Fairy Tail at heart. At least, the Laxus she knew from Earth was like that. She didn't know if the Earthland Laxus was different but she was definitely disappointed. When it came to her friends, she was very loyal and she wanted to believe in them no matter what. She cared about everyone in Fairy Tail and that included Laxus and the Raijinshuu so needless to say, it both saddened and angered her to see them standing against master Makarov and putting the lives of their friends into danger.

Natsu however, didn't seem to have such qualms. "Alright! I'm all fired up! Bring on the fight!" he shouted with an excited grin. Lucy sometimes seriously wondered if Natsu was just that simple. She could understand his sentiment of trusting in Laxus but only to a certain point. They may be in the same guild but what Laxus was doing clearly crossed the line. Sadly, she was coming to find that yes, Natsu really was just simple-minded.

Laxus smirked. "Natsu… you're always up for a good fight, aren't you? I kind of like that."

"Natsu…" Makarov said with a conflicted expression. Lucy could tell that Makarov had no idea how to break the pink haired boy's oblivious bubble.

The Fire Dragon Slayer rolled his shoulders, warming up his muscles for a fight. "This is a festival isn't it, old man? Let's go!" He quickly propelled himself forward using his flame and charged towards Laxus who was watching Natsu with his ever present smirk. Before Natsu could even connect his fist with Laxus, he was struck by lightning and promptly fell to the floor, completely frazzled.

"Calm down, Natsu," Laxus said levelly.

Lucy sighed at Natsu's recklessness. He was mostly very direct with his attacks and it left a lot of room for the opponent to use this against him. Sure, he had his moments of brilliance but they were rare and far in between. She had tried to advise him to be more calculating and strategic during battles but he had fallen asleep halfway through her speech.

"If you want to free these lovely ladies, you'll have to defeat us first," Evergreen said.

"I'm sure that can be arranged," Ria muttered.

Bickslow laughed. "Haha! There's four of us and a hundred of you! We're totally at a disadvantage here!"

"The time limit is three hours. If you cannot defeat us by the time is up, these girls will all crumble to sand. The battle field covers all of Magnolia and the moment you find one of us, the fight begins."

Makarov shook in anger and transformed into his giant form. "Don't you screw with me!" he roared.

Laxus merely smirked, unfazed by the display. "I told you to calm down, didn't I? Let's enjoy this bit of entertainment. Let the battle of Fairy Tail begin!" Then, with a bright flash of light, he and the Raijinshuu disappeared.

The others quickly seemed to come to their senses and they all rushed out of the guild hall, muttering about how they were going to save the girls. Lucy suspected that they each had someone in particular that they wanted to save. Of course, so did she but at the same time, she was concerned about the rest of the girls equally. She felt her blood starting to boil in deep irritation and had to take a deep breath to calm herself.

Makarov tried to follow the retreating crowd outside but crashed into an invisible wall. There was a ripple in the space and Lucy immediately recognised it for what it was: Freed's enchantment. It was a type of magic placed on a location, designed to trap those who strayed within its borders. Within the borders, there were certain 'rules' and without following them, escape was impossible. Of course, it wouldn't be effective against Lucy since she could teleport and easily escape the enchantment. However, it was a powerful magic in its own right and if used effectively, it could perform many feats. Sure enough, Rogue characters started appearing and it stated: "Those above the age of 80 and stone statues may not pass."

Makarov seemed to understand what was going on and roared once again in anger and frustration.

"I don't think he intended you to fight in the first place, master," Lucy said, approaching the old man.

Makarov gritted his teeth in frustration. "That fool… what is he thinking?!" He turned to Lucy with pleading eyes. "Laxus may be a fool but he is very powerful. In their current state, there isn't anyone who can defeat him. Erza might come close but she's currently in a petrified state so it's now up to you! You have the power to go against Laxus! Defeat that foolish boy and stop what he's doing!"

Lucy sighed. She had a feeling things would come to this. To be honest, she wasn't sure why she was suddenly so calm despite what was happening. Perhaps her ability to compartmentalise was finally coming into play and she was able to separate her logical mind from her emotionally driven one. In any case, the irritation she had felt earlier had all but dissipated upon the discovery of Freed's enchantments. (Although she suspected that it won't be long until it returns) Yes, she was furious that Erza and the others were held as hostages for a stupid game but she was able to set the feeling aside in favour of better assessing the situation with a clear and logical mind.

She hadn't rushed out immediately because she felt that there was something more to the situation and she had been proven right when she discovered the existence of Freed's enchantments. She wanted to stay back for a bit and get a grasp of the situation fully before heading out and taking action. Although she wanted to defeat Laxus and the Raijinshuu just as much as the next person, she knew that diving head first into a situation without any information was a critical mistake. She could only be glad that she was currently composed enough to have the sense to stay back for now. There had to be another catch, she could feel it in her guts.

Before she could reply to Makarov's request, Natsu shot up with an angry yell directed at Laxus only to find that he was alone with Makarov, Happy, Ria and Lucy. "Where the hell is Laxus?!" Natsu demanded.

Makarov's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before his face settled into a determined expression. "The Festival has begun! Laxus is somewhere in Magnolia. Now go and defeat him!"

Natsu clenched his fists. "Alright!" He ran for the exit only to be stopped by the same barrier that Makarov had been stopped with just a moment ago. "Huh?!" He shouted in surprise. "What's going on here? Why can't I escape?"

"Are you above the age of eighty or a stone statue?" Lucy questioned.

"Huh? No, why would you ask that?"

Lucy shrugged. "Then I'm afraid we don't know why you can't escape, Natsu-san. Since you're neither above the age of eighty nor a stone statue, you should technically be able to walk past the barrier."

Just then, the scripture floating in mid-air changed.

"Battle of Fairy Tail progress report?" Makarov read out loud.

[Jet vs Droy vs Alzack] the scripture read. [Winner: Alzack. Jet and Droy are no longer able to fight. Remaining members: 81]

As soon as the announcement faded, more popped up, each declaring the battles and the winner of each one. Then, it updated the number of members remaining which continued to grow smaller and smaller as time progressed.

"Stop this! Stop it you fools!" Makarov shouted. But it was no use. The battles continued to take place and the number of remaining members only decreased as seconds ticked by. So that was the catch. The members of Fairy Tail were pitted against each other in enchantment traps that were most likely set up all over Magnolia. Lucy had thought that the Rainjinshuu's attitude were much too confident and relaxed despite having to fight against more than hundred people. It seemed that they had a plan to weed out the majority of the members quickly and efficiently. Although Lucy felt a rushing sense of anger at the thought of her friends being forced to fight against each other, she couldn't help but grudgingly admit that it was a well thought-out plan.

"So this is what Laxus meant by 'The battle of Fairy Tail'," Happy observed.

"Well Master, I'll be heading out now," Lucy said. Now that she knew what the catch was, there was nothing stopping her from entering the battle. Her first opponent on the list was Evergreen. If she was defeated, then the rest of the girls would be released from their petrified state. She turned to Ria. "Ria, can you stay here and come to me if anything happens or if we have any new information?"

The smaller girl nodded and flew over to Natsu and Happy. "Sure. Don't go overboard out there," she warned.

"Lucy, I'm counting on you!" Makarov added. He seemed to have all his hopes resting on her and she silently promised to live up to them as best as she could.

"Thank you, master. I'll definitely defeat Laxus," she replied with a smile.

"Hey Luce! Take me with you! You can teleport us both outside, can't you?" Natsu demanded impatiently.

Lucy stopped in her tracks and contemplated. Certainly, she definitely could teleport Natsu outside of the enchantment. It would be for the best if Natsu was out there fighting as it would increase the chances of them winning against Laxus. But then again, it was also highly possible that he would get caught in various enchanted areas in the town and end up defeating most of their guild mates.

She shrugged. She might as well help the Dragon Slayer to join the fight. "Yes, I suppose that would be wise," she answered. She walked up to the excited boy and placed her hand on his shoulder, willing him to teleport to the other side of the barrier. To her surprise, nothing happened and Natsu remained exactly where he was. She frowned and silently tried again. Once again, nothing happened.

"What's goin' on?" Natsu asked in confusion when he noticed that nothing was happening.

"It seems that I can't teleport you outside the barrier although I do not know why," Lucy answered. She was perplexed to say the least. Just in case, she willed Natsu to teleport a few steps away and he immediately reappeared exactly where she had imagined. So it wasn't her teleportation that wasn't working. Maybe it had something to do with the effect of the enchantment. She had never actually tried to teleport anyone other than herself out of a magical enchantment so she hadn't known that she wouldn't be able to bring someone else with her using her ability.

"I think…" Lucy started slowly. "I think since I'm the only one who actually has the ability to teleport, I'm the only one who can escape enchantments using the ability - although, I'm not restricted by this barrier anyway. I think I would still be able to teleport Natsu-san if you were allowed to escape the enchantment but since for some reason you are not allowed to pass according to the person who set up the barrier-in this case Freed-san-, I am unable to bring you with me," she explained to Natsu. Of course, all of this was mere speculation but it did make a lot of sense.

Natsu stared at her blankly. "…what?"

Lucy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "To put it simply, I'm afraid I can't teleport you outside the enchantment."

"What?! Why?"

"Natsu-san, I literally _just_ explained so please don't make me repeat myself." Lucy glanced up at the barrier and saw that the number of participants remaining were still steadily decreasing and realised that she was wasting her time. "I'm sorry but I will have to take my leave. At this rate, everyone in the guild will be defeated by the time anyone even finds Laxus-san. I hope that I will see you later, Natsu-san."

The last thing she heard before teleporting away was Natsu's indignant shout about how she was going to take away all the fun. She rolled her eyes slightly at that. Of course_ that's_ what the Dragon Slayer was concerned about. As much as Lucy was more relaxed than she should be considering the serious situation, Natsu was much worse. He didn't seem to be taking this as a threat at all and seemed to treat it like a game. (Although, in hindsight, it _was_ designed to have the atmosphere of a large-scale tournament. A twisted one, yes, but a tournament nonetheless.) Maybe it was for the best that she couldn't bring Natsu with her. At his current mind-set, he would just make the situation worse. What he needed was a reality check. He needed to understand the full severity of the situation and realise that the lives of others were at stake. Of course Lucy still considered Laxus and the Raijinshuu as part of her family but it didn't blind her from the fact that what they were doing was unacceptable.

She soon found herself landing quietly on top of a tall building that gave her a nice overview of Magnolia. In various parts of the town, she could see members of Fairy Tail fighting against each other. However, they weren't what she was looking for so she continued to survey the town. Just then, she caught sight of Elfman being defeated in his beast form by Evergreen next to the flower shop down several streets from where she was standing. On the other side of the town, her keen eyes spotted Bixslow defeating a thoroughly beaten up Gray as well as Freed overpowering several Fairy Tail members at the same time.

Disregarding the other two for the moment, Lucy teleported to where Evergreen was. Just as Lucy started approaching the woman, she swivelled around and sent a volley of spears flying towards Lucy. The blonde mage quickly dodged all of them and teleported to stand behind Evergreen.

"Hello, Evergreen-san," Lucy greeted, almost directly into the woman's ear. She suppressed her cackle when she saw the woman jolting in surprise and quickly jumping away to a safe distance. "I believe I have yet to introduce myself to you. My name is Lucy and I've recently joined the guild. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Evergreen sent her a glare. "If this is some kind of ploy to lower my guard, it's not working," she said.

Lucy smiled. "Oh no, if I wanted to defeat you, I would have given you a surprise attack instead, don't you think? I was merely being polite by introducing myself. We are in the same guild after all, despite the situation."

Evergreen sneered. "You think mere teleportation will work against me? I am the ultimate fairy and no one can come close to my beauty." She flipped back and lots of dust like particles surrounded Lucy. "Fairy bomb: Gremlin!"

When the cloud of smoke cleared, Evergreen was shocked to see Lucy casually standing in the middle, completely unharmed. Lucy grinned. She knew most of Evergreen's attacks already so she hadn't really been surprised at the explosion. She had put up a barrier around herself and waited for the smoke to clear.

"How…" Evergreen started in shock. Then, she scowled and lifted her glasses. Lucy teleported away before their eyes could meet and she could be turned to stone. If she didn't have the ability to teleport, she would certainly be in a bind. It was then that a sudden thought entered her mind. If she could fight efficiently without relying on her sense of sight, she would be able to handle Evergreen without constantly teleporting around. She mentally jotted down this point and made a promise to herself that she would start training to fight with her eyes closed as soon as possible.

Just then, she remembered a crucial fact about Evergreen's power. Lucy honestly wanted to smack herself for forgetting such an important fact. Whilst Evergreen's Stones Eyes were deadly on anyone she made eye-contact with, it didn't work if her victim was wearing glasses. In a single motion, Lucy reached into her pocket dimension, pulled out her sunglasses and placed them over her eyes. She just hoped that this was enough to fend against Evergreen's eyes.

"Tch, so you know…" Evergreen clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Well, no matter. I can defeat a small fry like you without my Stone Eyes."

Lucy felt a twinge of annoyance at being called a small fry. She wasn't usually so affected by insults but Evergreen's arrogant comment seemed to act as a trigger in releasing her pent up anger that she had locked away. Now that she didn't have any reason to stay composed, she was free to feel anger at the other woman for putting Erza and the other girls' lives at stake. Lucy dropped the smile and rolled her wrists. "For your sake, let's hope that your actual ability matches your confidence," she replied.

Without further delay, Lucy sent a pre-emptive attack to rouse her opponent into action. Instead of using her magic, she decided to first of all rely on physical attacks to evaluate Evergreen's combat ability. She quickly teleported and using the momentum of her landing, she swung her leg in a wide arc towards Evergreen's temple. The brunette instinctively brought up her arm to block the kick and pushed herself into the air, suspending a few meters above the ground using her wings. She was furiously massaging the arm which she had used to block the kick, a pained expression painted on her face.

"What's wrong? Can't even defend against a simple kick?" Lucy taunted in an attempt to provoke Evergreen into using her remaining cards.

At this, Evergreen halted her in movement and scowled down at Lucy instead. "It's too early to get cocky. Fairy Maching Gun: Leprechaun!" She swung back her arms and immediately, the tiny light particles surrounding her glimmered and formed into needles before whizzing towards Lucy at a blinding speed.

The blonde mage set up a barrier around her body and remained still in her place, allowing the needles to hit her body, only to get deflected by the said barrier. She watched with a sense of satisfaction as a look of shock entered Evergreen's features.

"What- How?!" the self-declared fairy exclaimed.

Lucy dispelled the barrier and teleported to Evergreen. Before the surprised woman could react, she slammed her hand against Evergreen's back, sending a burst of her magic travelling down to her palm at the same time. With a pained scream, Evergreen was sent crashing into the ground.

Lucy landed next to her and as Evergreen rolled over and attempted to fly away, she swung her arm, creating a long katana in her hand and held the sharp blade to the woman's neck. "You're dead wrong if you think that you even enter my top hundred list for the most fearsome opponents that I have faced. We may be in the same guild and I may still consider you as family but I will have no mercy on those who hurt the people I love. Make no mistake, _Evergreen-san_; one wrong move and your head will be gone faster than you can blink." To prove her point, she pressed the tip of the blade lightly against Evergreen's throat – not hard enough to cause any real damage but just enough to draw a small drop of blood. Lucy steeled her features and demanded, "Release the girls. Now."

Despite her obvious fear, Evergreen managed to put up a brave face and sneered. "Are you sure you're in a position to threaten me? My stone eyes have more than one ability, you know. Remote control – I can reduce every one of those girls into dust if I wish to do so."

Lucy rolled her eyes, seeing through the lie straight away. "As if I would fall for that stupid bluff. Fine then, I'll just have to use force-"

"Lucy!"

Startled at hearing the all-too familiar voice, she looked up and her eyes widened. "Erza-san?" Unfortunately, Evergreen took advantage of Lucy's momentary distraction to push away the blade and fly away to hover once more in the air. Despite her annoyance at Evergreen's escape, Lucy's relief at seeing Erza unharmed far outweighed any negative feelings. "How did you reverse the effect of the petrification?" she asked the redhead.

Erza pointed at her artificial eye and Lucy immediately understood. She suddenly felt stupid for not taking Erza's artificial eye into account.

"Ah, so the Titania enters the scene," Evergreen's voice called out. As Lucy and Erza looked up, she directed a glare at the requip mage. "You really irritate me, calling yourself 'Titania'. I am the only queen of the fairies!" With that, she sent another torrent of needles towards the two mages.

Lucy sighed in irritation. It seemed to her that Evergreen had yet to learn the lesson. Readying her magic, she was about to step in front of Erza to shield them both from the attack when the redhead materialised two swords and deflected all the needles with practiced ease. Lucy watched in awe as Erza quickly jumped with grace and pinned Evergreen to the wall of a nearby building using the two swords.

Evergreen struggled but quickly adopted a different tactic. "As I told blondie over there, I have the ability to turn the girls into dust at any moment I wish."

Lucy mentally scoffed as Evergreen once again attempted to fool them with her bluff. As someone as intellectual as Erza would believe the lie.

However, the so called queen of fairies did not stop there. With a threatening sneer, she demanded, "Now take off your clothes and prostrate yourself naked before me! If you do not, I will turn every one of those women into dust right now!"

_What! How dare she-_

With indignant anger at Evergreen's disrespect towards Erza, she teleported to put the woman in her place but before she could even finish her raging thought, the requip mage changed into her Heaven's Wheel armour and pointed dozens of swords at a now pale Evergreen.

"I see. If you feel winning or losing is more important than your life, then so be it." Erza's expression hardened as she levelled the trembling woman with a glare filled with killing intent. "In taking your life, I will avenge the souls of those crumbled maidens."

Visible cold sweat rapidly rolled down Evergreen's face and she screamed in terror. Lucy laughed as Erza promptly punched Evergreen into unconsciousness. She walked up to the redhead, giving her a wolf-whistle to show her appreciation.

"Now _that's_ how you do a real bluff," Lucy said, giving Erza a grin. "Very impressive, Erza-san."

Erza smiled back. "Thanks."

Lucy's eyes softened and she gave Erza a hug. "I'm glad you're okay." She smiled contentedly when she felt the requip mage melting into the embrace and hugging her back. After the tower of heaven incident and Lucy's near death experience, the two had gotten a lot closer and there was a silent, intimate understanding between them. Lucy felt that after their heartfelt talk, they had bridged a huge amount of distance that had existed between them previously and she felt as if she now had a more solid connection with Erza. Inside, Lucy was absolutely ecstatic about this progress but she tried to not let it show too much on her face.

Despite the fact that Lucy would have loved more than anything to hold onto Erza forever, she knew not to draw it out for too long and pulled away from the hug. "How are things going? What's the current status?" she asked.

"Obviously, Evergreen is now defeated but the other two members of the Raijinshuu still remain. We need to somehow defeat them, especially Freed to dispel all the enchantments around the town. I heard that Mystogan has also joined the battle so things are looking up for us. We just need to focus on defeating Laxus now that the hostages are free."

Lucy nodded. "Then whilst you look for Laxus-san, I will try and defeat the other members of Rainjinshuu."

"Alright. Be careful Lucy," Erza said, before dashing away.

Now that Lucy was alone with a now conscious Evergreen, she approached the woman. "Would you happen to know where Bickslow-san is?" she asked.

"Ha! You think you can defeat him when you couldn't even stand against me?" Evergreen laughed.

Lucy shrugged, deciding to be the bigger person and ignore the woman's jab, as false as it may be. "Whether I think I can beat him or not is for me to decide. If you aren't going to provide me with any useful information, then I bid you goodbye. I hope you have a peaceful sleep, Evergreen-san."

"What are you-" Before the older woman could finish her sentence, she was put to sleep by Lucy who quickly pressed a pressure point on her neck. Lucy stared at the woman and sighed deeply. Now that the girls were all safe, the previous anger towards Evergreen deflated and she could only feel pity at the woman's stubborn determination to go against Fairy Tail.

"I'm sorry Evergreen-san," Lucy muttered quietly. Despite all the trouble the older woman has caused, Lucy still considered her as part of her family. She knew Evergreen. When she wasn't busy following Laxus' orders, she had her caring side. It was just that she was stubborn and didn't socialise with others very easily.

After casting one last glance at the sleeping woman, she teleported once more to a high place to inspect the town and see if she could find Bickslow but quickly moved out of the way when she sensed several beams of magic rushing towards her. _Well, speak of the devil, _she thought to herself wryly as she stared up at the man standing on top of a long pole.

"So you're the newbie I've been hearing so much about?" Bickslow said with a wide grin. "Hey babies, take her out!" he commanded the five dolls floating next to him.

As the dolls attacked her with balls of magic, Lucy swiftly evaded each one of them and contemplated her actions. She knew that just taking out the dolls wouldn't be enough and she also knew about Bickslow's Figure eyes which could take possession of her soul if their eyes were to meet. The best plan of action would be to either take him out very quickly before he could activate his eyes or force him into a corner and take him out whilst he's distracted and unable to use his eyes.

First, she would have to destroy all the dolls and buy herself some time. Although Bickslow could transfer the souls to other dolls, it took a bit of time to do so and that little amount of time was all Lucy needed. She pulled out the golden key she had been given at the Galuna Island. "Open, gate of the archer, Sagittarius!" In a puff of smoke, the spirit appeared.

"Moshi moshi? You called?" the spirit asked.

Lucy nodded at the dolls. "Can you take them all down? You can return as soon as you finish your job. Thank you."

Sagittarius saluted. "Moshi moshi, orders received and understood!" He readied his bow and quickly and accurately shot down all the flying dolls. With his job done, he gave a final salute before disappearing.

Bickslow crouched down and clutched his head, mocking distress. "Nooo! My babies!" He then grinned. "Just kiddi-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Lucy quickly closed the distance between them and smashed her powered fist against his face, sending him flying back and crashing into the building behind him. She quickly dodged the beams that flew towards her from the newly possessed dolls. She teleported to Bickslow and gave him another punch that was strong enough to cause a crater to form beneath him. Before she could be hit by the magic beams, she quickly moved away. She thought that the final punch had been enough to defeat Bickslow but she was surprised to find him slowly getting to his feet.

"Dammit all… you're a lot stronger than you look, aren't you? Then I guess there's nothing else for it!" Bickslow said, reaching his hand to take off his mask.

Lucy, who had made a back-up plan in case of this scenario happening, quickly pulled out another gold key and called for Loke. The spirit appeared, wearing his usual black suit and shades. "Do you need me for anything, Lucy?" he asked.

"Close your eyes and don't open them. I just need you to create a really bright light. Can you do that?" Lucy asked. Her eyes were closed and she was defending the two of them from the attacks by putting up a barrier around them but it wasn't going to last them forever.

Loke smirked. "Who do you think you're talking to? Of course I can. Leave everything to me." He closed his eyes as Lucy instructed and got into his position. "Zenith of Regulus… Lion Brilliance!" Immediately, the area was lit up by an extremely bright light. Bickslow instinctively clamped his eyes shut and Lucy used this chance to close in on him. Clasping her hands together, she brought it over her head, charged it up with her magic and brought it down onto Bickslow who yelled in pain as energy cackled all over his body and he was sent plummeting into the ground once more. This time, he remained defeated and showed no signs of waking up any time soon.

"I hope I didn't hurt him too much," Lucy said in worry. Like Evergreen, Bickslow was also part of the Fairy Tail family and she knew that he was genuinely a cheerful, optimistic and loyal man at heart.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Loke said.

Turning to face Loke, Lucy smiled in gratitude. "Thanks, Loke. I can always count on you," she said.

He grinned and slapped her back. "Of course you can. Anything for my cute little sister. Call me again whenever you need me okay?" He gave Lucy a final smile before disappearing with a wave.

"Now," Lucy muttered to herself. "Where to find Freed-san…"

Just then, she remembered seeing Elfman being beaten pretty badly by Evergreen earlier. Although she doubted that he was in a fatal state, she decided that she should at least go and check in on him to make sure he's okay. She would be dammed before Mirajane lost another sibling. She teleported to the flower shop but immediately stopped in her tracks when she found that Mirajane was already there crying into her hands. Elfman was comforting his older sister and Lucy felt somewhat like a voyeur for intruding on this private moment.

"Is this a bad time…?" she asked hesitantly.

Mirajane and Elfman looked up in surprise. When they saw that it was just Lucy, they relaxed and the older girl gave her a watery smile. "No it's fine. I'm glad that you're at least okay, Lucy."

Lucy smiled. She crouched down next to the injured Elfman and quickly inspected him. "Hmm… you don't seem to have any serious injuries, Elfman-san. If you just let your body rest for a bit, you'll be as good as new. Here," she reached into her pocket dimension and pulled out a vial of clear liquid. She handed it to Elfman. "Drink this. It should speed up your recovery and make your injuries less painful. I'm afraid this is all I can do for you."

"Thanks," Elfman said, gulping down the liquid. "You're a real man."

Lucy supposed that was a huge compliment coming from Elfman so she decided to just take it in strides and smiled.

"Thank you Lucy. You didn't have to but thank you for everything. How can I ever repay you?" Mirajane said with fresh tears of gratitude in her eyes.

Lucy scoffed. "You don't have to pay me back for anything. We're all family here so it's only natural for me to care. Besides, seeing your smile is payment enough for me, Mira-san," Lucy said softly and sincerely. However, she cringed when she realised how cheesy it probably sounded. "Sorry, that was kind of cheesy but it's the truth."

Mirajane giggled softly and gave Lucy an unexpected hug. _I seem to be getting a lot of these recently, _Lucy thought to herself with a small blush. She didn't know what to do with her arms for the first few seconds but she settled on wrapping them around the older girl and returned the hug. Eventually, they pulled apart and with words of parting, went their separate ways.

From there, Lucy contemplated her next course of action. She still needed to find Freed but she also wanted to check in on Natsu and the others back at the guild hall. Plus, she still needed to find Laxus since she had promised Makarov that she would defeat him. In the end, she decided that a quick visit wouldn't hurt and teleported to the guild hall.

When she appeared in the hall, she was surprised to find that Natsu and Makarov were gone. When Ria noticed Lucy approaching her, Happy and Levy, she quickly flew towards her friend with a panicked face.

"Lucy! Something terrible has happened. When the girls were de-petrified, Laxus set up a Hall of Thunder around Magnolia and is holding the entire town as hostage. Plus, he attached living link magic to each thunder filled lacrima so that anyone who attacks it will also receive a large damage. Bisca's already in the infirmary because of that and master collapsed a while ago," Ria explained.

Lucy gritted her teeth. Laxus really was taking things too far. "Are master and Bisca-san doing okay?"

"Bisca just needs time to recover but I'm not sure about the master."

"Where's Natsu-san?"

"He and Gajeel are on their way to Laxus. I rewrote the enchantment which allowed them to pass through," Levy said proudly.

"I see. Thank you. I suppose I shouldn't be loitering around here then. I have to do something about the Hall of Thunder before it sets off," Lucy said and teleported away. Once she was standing on the border of Magnolia, she stared up at the Hall of Thunder that circled the town ominously. If it were to set off, the entire town would be struck by hundreds of lightning bolts that would surely destroy all buildings and kill anyone inside the town who couldn't defend themselves from the strikes. She supposed she should immediately destroy the Hall of Thunder before the time limit but if she did that, she wouldn't able to fight Laxus afterwards. Just then, Erza appeared, running around the corner of a building and approaching Lucy when she spotted the blonde mage.

"Lucy! What are these things floating around the town?!" she shouted in concern.

"It's Hall of Thunder, set up by Laxus-san to hold the town as a hostage now that the girls are de-petrified," Lucy explained. "I believe we have about fifteen minutes before it activates."

Erza's eyes widened in shock. "Then we must hurry and destroy it!"

"Laxus-san attached living link magic to each lacrima. If you destroy one, you will also receive a big damage."

"It doesn't matter. If the town will be saved, I will gladly destroy them all," Erza said in determination. She quickly requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armour and started materialising dozens after dozens of swords, each aiming at a lacrima in the sky.

Lucy sighed in resignation. Erza was so damn selfless compared to Lucy. However, it was the redhead's determination and resolve that ultimately helped Lucy to make up her mind. "In that case, I will also help you. We should try and enlist the help of the others as well to spread out the damage. I'll see if I can find Warren-san by teleporting around."

Just as she finished saying this, a large explosion occurred in the sky at the far end of Magnolia above where the bridges and the river was. When she remembered that Mirajane and Elfman had headed in that direction, she immediately teleported to the location to see what was going on. What she saw shocked her and made her jaws drop in amazement.

Mirajane was in a completely unfamiliar form that resembled some kind of demon and was completely overwhelming Freed who had even used his Yami no Ecriture on himself. The usually sweet and gentle Mirajane looked utterly badass and the amount of magic she possessed was almost unreal. Once the Festival was over, Lucy was definitely going to ask Mirajane all about her magic. She watched as Mirajane straddled a badly beaten Freed and raised her arm to deliver a punch to his face. She seemed to be filled with rage and Lucy was certain that Freed was going to be killed but something changed in the girl's expression and her fist stopped its descent, freezing mere inches above Freed's face. With a puff of smoke, Mirajane was back to her normal self, smiling down sadly at a stunned Freed. They exchanged words and Freed was soon reduced into a crying mess. Lucy smiled at the exchange, happy that everything had turned out okay.

However, remembering her original duty, she quickly teleported again and surveyed the town to find Warren. He was easy enough to find and she quickly appeared next to him, causing him to jump in surprise. "Lucy! What's happening? What are all those things floating around the town?"

Lucy briefly explained the situation and then asked him to create a telepathic link with everyone from Fairy Tail who were in the vicinity.

"_Everyone, can you hear me? This is Lucy. Firstly, all the girls are no longer turned into stone so there is no need to worry about that. Right now, there's a more pressing situation. If you look above you, you'll be able to see lacrima spheres floating around the town. They are charged with thunder and after around ten minutes, they will activate and attack everyone in Magnolia. Everyone, please attack as many of those lacrimas as you can and help Erza-san and I to destroy all of it. I realise that you were fighting amongst yourself just moments ago but we must put it all behind us for now and work towards a common goal."_

"_W-wait! The lacrimas are protected by living link magic!" _Erza's voice interrupted.

"_Warren! We'll settle things after we get rid of those lacrimas!" _Max's voice shouted.

"_Visitor you bastard… you better stay right where you are!" _

"_Guys…" _Erza's voice said. _Lucy and I will handle the two hundred in the north! Everyone else concentrate on the southern side!"_

"_Don't leave a single one!" _Gray said.

After giving thanks to Warren for helping out, Lucy teleported back to Erza's side to help the girl take out the two hundred on the north.

"I've already got hundred and seventy three swords materialised. Can you take care of the remaining twenty seven?" Erza asked, her voice slightly strained from using so much magic.

Lucy nodded. "Of course, a piece of cake." She created twenty seven silver needles and directed each of them at a lacrima. With a cry of three, they destroyed the lacrimas and all at once, the Hall of Thunder exploded into tiny shards of lacrima and rained down onto the streets of Magnolia.

"We did it," Erza breathed in relief. Just as she finished saying this, she was struck by an intense bolt of lightning that caused her to slump to the ground with her body burnt and completely exhausted. Lucy was also struck by lightning but hers was nothing compared to Erza's. She quickly crouched next to the redhead and cringed when she saw that Erza's body was covered in nasty looking burns. Lucy considered it a miracle that the girl was even alive with how much damage she must have taken. Taking out another vial of healing medicine, she made Erza swallow it and sighed in relief as the burn marks started healing themselves. Lucy didn't have a lot of the medicine left but she didn't regret using them on her friends.

"Are you okay, Erza-san?" Lucy asked in concern.

Erza groaned and cracked open her eyes. She gave Lucy and weak smile. "I feel like I've just been hit by hundred and seventy three bolts of lightning. But I'll manage."

Lucy chuckled and helped Erza to sit up against a nearby wall. "I'm glad to hear that. Well, now that Magnolia isn't in danger of being attacked by Hall of Thunder, I think I'll go and find Laxus-san. I did make a promise with master to defeat him."

"Are you sure you can fight in your condition? You also received quite a large amount of damage just now. You shouldn't push yourself. I'm sure Natsu can handle Laxus," Erza said.

Lucy smiled. "Yes, I'm sure Natsu-san can handle him but there's something about Laxus-san that I must confirm for myself. And please don't worry. My body heals at a fast rate and I still have plenty of magic left."

Erza sighed. "I suppose there's no convincing you otherwise. Make sure to be safe, Lucy."

"I will. But first, let's get you to the infirmary. I'd rather not leave you out here alone in this state," Lucy said and swiftly picked up Erza in bridal style. Erza was surprisingly lighter than she had imagined her to be and Lucy nearly toppled over backwards with the girl in her arms due to the excess amount of strength she had put into the lift after assuming that Erza would be a lot heavier. She supposed Erza's regular work out and training sessions compensated for all the sweet, sugary and fat-filled pastry she ate on a daily basis.

"I'm surprised you're not heavier with all those cakes you eat every day, Erza-san," Lucy teased.

Erza glared up at her and punched her arm. "I may be injured but I can still beat your sorry ass."

"Of course," Lucy laughed. She shook her head in amusement as she felt her upper arm being punched once again by the redhead in her arms. Although, the woman hit _hard. _It just showed that even whilst heavily injured, Erza's strength didn't diminish in the slightest.

"Are you mocking me?" Erza asked with a glower.

Lucy supressed a shit-eating grin and attempted to pull a serious face. "Me? Mock _the _Titania of Fairy Tail? I wouldn't dare." Lucy failed to maintain her serious expression when she saw Erza flushing slightly in what she assumed was a mixture of embarrassment and irritation.

"I swear, when this Festival is over, I _will _come and beat your ass."

"I can't wait."

Lucy couldn't help but burst into laughter when she heard Erza's frustrated groan.

* * *

**Oooh... development? Haha, I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Okay, time for the replies. (I'll reply to the comments on both chapter 19 and the notice)**

**Golden Piggy:** Thanks for enjoying the story so far. I planned all the way up to the Edolas arc and I've got to say, I'm not sure if it will meet up to your expectations XD I'll try my best nonetheless. Although, just for you, I'll give the slight spoiler that I've got something big planned for the Oracion Seis arc. It's up to you to guess what this 'big' thing is and if it's even going to be as great as it sounds :)

**kotomi101:** Welp, Lucy saw Mira transform and she now knows to never miss Mirajane off XD

**HinoteRaion:** I'm glad you're liking the slow-burn romance because that's exactly what this is going to be :) And fear not, I have more romangsty moments planned for our favourite couple. In terms of their relationship, I've planned out what development's happening when. I dunno, I guess I just like drawing out their romance. It makes it seem more meaningful to me. (Maybe that's just me)

**Heine:** Glad you like my approach to the characters and their relationships. Please keep on supporting me! *Bows ninety degrees*

**WinterKV:** I've watched mikagura school suite as well lol. And yes, everyone has a bit of pervert inside them. Well, there's going to be plenty more reasons for you to cry and fangirl then ;)

**flufflemallow:** Holy... that's a long review XD But thank you, you made me laugh with your analogy (I would love to randomly pick up hundred dollars on the street) I love your little scenario, lol. Sounds like a perfect crack side fic.

**KiiroNoKitsune:** Thanks for your support. And if I tell you when they're going to confess, wouldn't that be spoiling the story? XD But I don't think you have to wait too long for a large development. That's all I'm willing to disclose on the matter. :)

**shiroyuina:** I don't know if this sounds really narcissistic but I would totally watch the animated version of my story. Only because I love badass Lucy and Erlu.

**imawhoreforanime:** Your username is just simply glorious XD I'm very honoured that you think so highly of me. I have a lot to improve on but I'm very blessed to have the wonderful support of my readers. Thank you. And Holy shit, you totally gave up sleep for my story. You don't get to blame me if you fall asleep during the day or something XD

**SheFellForFairyTail:** No, no. You're not bugging me at all! If anything, your review motivated me and kept me going in writing the chapter. Thank you for joining the following at all, even. You have no idea how much everyone's supportive messages kept me going.

**IceWolfe16:** I'm sure we'll get to see some of what Erza's feeling as well. It wouldn't be a proper development (at least for me) if we don't see Erza's side of things. And as for if it's a crush or friendship level, you'll soon see :)

**RinaAnnMarie:** Thank you so much. I hope you know that your comment really touched me. I'm happy that you notice my efforts and truthfully, it's the least I can do for such patient and understanding readers like you. I hope that I don't ever disappoint you with this story. Feel free to give me constructive criticisms on anything and I'll try my best to make it better.

**Person of no interest:** Thank you! Well, here's the next chapter, hope it didn't disappoint haha.

**TailFire:** Yes, I'm definitely a lot better so thank you! And don't worry, I also have a nonexistent romantic life Xd *Cries in the corner with you*

**Divinitas:** 'A taste of the forbidden fruit' XD Why do you sound so strangely poetic? Nonetheless, I cracked up at the forbidden fruit part. (Hey! Don't make my story sound so deliciously sinful!)

**Whew! Well, that was a lot. Anyways, next chapter is the end of the Fighting Festival arc. Got any guesses on what's going to happen? Will there be any significant revelations or character development? We'll find out. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	21. Truth from the heart

By the time Lucy had dropped off Erza at the infirmary and found Laxus and Natsu and Gajeel fighting inside Caldia cathedral, the two dragon slayers were already in a pretty bad shape and Laxus was in quite a rage thanks to the Hall of Thunder being destroyed. He was cackling and muttering like a madman and his body was oozing with raw power. However, despite the fact that the situation was very serious, the first thing that ran through Lucy's mind was how relieved she was to see that Laxus had discarded his hideous, god-forsaken fur coat. Sure, maybe she wasn't the best person to criticize someone else's fashion sense but seriously, she just couldn't stand the thing. Although Laxus' shirt wasn't much better, it was more redeemable than the coat. She quickly shook her head before she could get distracted with more irrelevant thoughts.

"I hope you don't mind if I join the fight," Lucy said, announcing her presence. Immediately, three pairs of eyes turned to stare at her, all with varying expressions. Laxus was looking at her as if she was another victim ready for him to play around with, Natsu looked surprised and Gajeel gave her a look that said: 'I'm surprised you're still alive'.

"What are you doing here, Lucy?" Natsu asked.

Lucy shrugged. "Like I said, I'm here to join the fight. You look like you're having a hard time anyway."

"Tch. Just don't drag us down," Gajeel said in annoyance.

"Hm. You punks think you can defeat just because there's three of you now? Come and attack me all at once. I'll show you the difference in our powers," Laxus said.

Giving each other nods, the three of them charged forward. Together, they each threw a punch at Laxus but they were swept away with his lightning charged hand. Each of them occupied a different side and they threw flurries of rapid punches and kicks at Laxus in an attempt to throw him off but he was able to deflect each of their attacks. After a while, Laxus seemed to become sick of the standstill and sent a lightning bolt at each of them. Lucy was able to defend against it by creating a barrier but was ultimately forced to step back and create some distance between her and Laxus. Natsu and Gajeel, who had been thrown back by the force, sent each other a silent message and together, they sent their breath attacks at Laxus. The breaths mixed together and combined to become one big attack and travelled toward Laxus. The lightning mage deftly jumped away but quickly had to defend himself against Gajeel's Iron Dragon Staff followed by his Iron Dragon Blade. Once again, Laxus was able to dodge both attacks and sent a ball of lightning at Gajeel and Natsu which immediately exploded upon impact.

However, Natsu immediately got up and ran up the wall, springing off it and using the momentum to hit Laxus with his Fire Dragon Dazzling Flames. As Laxus was thrown away, Lucy conjured up hundreds of needles just like Evergreen had done and sent them raining on the lightning mage. When each needle hit the ground, it exploded and simultaneously charged the ground with energy. Laxus was unable to evade all the needles and received some damage by taking on the explosions as well as the energy pulse that ran through his body each time he landed on the ground. Gajeel wasted no time and immediately followed this up with his own Dragon Slayer attack, hitting Laxus several times with his speedy lance. Once again, Natsu and Gajeel combined their breaths and this time, Lucy also added in her own silver magic. All three of the attacks combined and grew in size before hitting Laxus with a massive explosion. A huge cloud of dust covered the area and Laxus was nowhere to be seen. However, Lucy could still feel his presence moving about so she heightened her senses to prepare for a surprise attack.

Soon, a shadow appeared in the cloud of dust and Laxus' voice rang through the Cathedral. "The three of you together… and this is all you can manage? What pathetic mages you all are."

"Impossible," Gajeel muttered. "No matter how strong this guy is, how can he take all that anti-dragon magic?! It's just impossible!"

"It's simple really. The old man was a pain in the ass so I've kept it hidden all this time but I guess I can let you guys see just this once." As he spoke, Laxus' teeth grew sharper and he began to adopt the common characteristics of a Dragon Slayer.

"It can't be…" Natsu said in shock. "You're a Dragon Slayer as well?!"

Laxus merely smirked. He puffed his chest out and seemed to be preparing for an attack.

Then, it happened.

"Thunder Dragon roar!"

A huge amount of magic was coming towards the three of them and Lucy quickly grabbed both Natsu and Gajeel and teleported them far away to avoid being caught in the repercussions of the attack. When the smoke cleared, half the floor was completely destroyed and the cathedral was no longer recognisable. When Laxus saw no one lying on the floor, he looked around and saw the three of them standing far away with Gajeel and Natsu still looking shell-shocked. His eyes immediately trained onto Lucy and he growled angrily. "You. You're the one who caused Phantom to attack. You and your pesky abilities. If it weren't for your meddling, all three of you would have died from the attack. The three of you… Erza, Mystogan, the old man, the guild members, the citizens of Magnolia… You can all just go to hell!" Laxus yelled out in rage.

Lucy's eyes widened when she felt the familiar surge of powerful magic. The beginnings of the ultimate judgement spell: Fairy Law. A spell that attacks anyone the user recognises as an enemy. At this point, there was nothing that Lucy could do to stop Laxus from casting the spell.

"Laxus! Stop!" Lucy whipped her head around to see the new arrival. It was Levy and she was wearing a pained expression. "The master is… your own grandfather is on death's door! So please! Just stop this and go see him!"

Lucy froze at the news. Master was going to die? No matter how many times she processed those words, she just couldn't make any sense of them. Why? How? She refused to accept it. Levy had to be lying. There was no way master was going to die. He was a tough old man and still had years left to live. What would the guild do without him? He was like a parent to all of them. He had been kind and understanding and he accepted Lucy when she most needed comfort and acceptance. His death was something she just couldn't accept. It was way too sudden.

Laxus on the other hand, merely smiled. The smile was cruel and full of hatred. "Well that suits me just great! Looks like my chance of becoming master just increased! Bwahaha! Die Fairy Tail! I'll build you up again from scratch. A guild that never loses! That'll make everyone tremble with fear! I'll create the ultimate guild."

Lucy felt rage slowly rising within her. How dare he…?! Master was dying… his own family was dying and all Laxus could care about was status and power! The man standing in front of her wasn't Laxus. He was merely a stranger who was obsessed with titles and prestige. She clenched her fists. She would bring Laxus back, even if it she had to beat the shit out of him to do so. However, before she could do anything, Fairy Law was activated. A bright light filled the area and spread across the entire town. Lucy shielded her eyes from the light and braced herself for whatever that was to come. However, seconds and minutes passed and nothing happened. When she looked around, she saw that neither Natsu or Levy or Gajeel were harmed. When Laxus looked around and saw that no one was harmed, he started trembling.

"Impossible…Why?! WHY ARE THEY NOT DEAD?! What the fuck is going on? How can anyone survive a magic of that magnitude?!" he shouted.

Just then, a severely injured Freed limped towards them. "The guild members and all the townspeople are safe. Not a single person was harmed."

Laxus snarled. "That's not possible! My Fairy Law was perfect!"

Freed smiled gently. "It's your heart, Laxus. Your power and your magical ability aren't the only things you've inherited from the master. A heart that cares for their comrades. Fairy Law only affects those who the user considers as enemy. Do you understand what I'm saying, Laxus? You can't lie to your magic. This is just how you truly feel."

"No!" Laxus denied. "Anyone who gets in my way are enemies! They're all enemies!"

"Give it up already Laxus. Just go to the master," Freed said.

"I don't care what the hell happens to that old fart! I am myself! I am not his grandson! I'm Laxus!"

"We all know that," Natsu said walking towards Laxus. "Don't get all big headed on us, you dumbass. So what if you're the old man's grandson? Does that make you so different? So special? So talented? Don't you get hung up over some stupid blood relation! The guild is the only family we need!" he yelled angrily.

"How can you understand?" Laxus gritted out.

Lucy stepped forward. "Natsu-san is right. You're so obsessed with titles and your connection to the master that you're losing sight of what truly matters. Maybe we don't understand how you feel. But that doesn't mean we're not your comrades. And I'm sorry you can't seem to see this. I will defeat you and make you understand by force!" she shouted. Together with Natsu, she charged towards Laxus with her fist pulled back.

"Shaddup!" Laxus yelled back, also pulling back his fist. "Why won't you just die!?"

"We won't give up the guild, even if we die! The guild is our home!" Natsu shouted. His punch connected with Laxus and so did Lucy's. This time, she didn't hold back on her strength and sent Laxus flying all the way across the clearing and into the wall in such as speed that no one could even see him. Despite crashing into the wall with a huge amount of force, Laxus quickly got up and charged. Natsu met him in the middle and received the lightning powered punch with his face. He tumbled back but landed back on his feet. His lips were busted and his nose was bleeding but he didn't even seem to notice. Laxus yelled out and swung at Natsu once more before slamming him into the ground.

"This guild doesn't belong to you, Laxus," Natsu said weakly as blood trickled from his mouth.

"Shut up!" Laxus yelled, stomping on Natsu's back. There was a sound of bone breaking and Natsu screamed out in pain. "You're a hundred years too early to lecture me, got that?!" He kicked Natsu up into the air and sent him flying away with a lightning fused kick. Natsu limply skidded across the floor and remained motionless for a few seconds but ultimately started getting back up again. Lucy watched from the side-lines, respecting Natsu's resolve to continue to fight. Just as Natsu had respected her wish to fight Jellal alone, she would respect his determination by not interfering with the battle unless absolutely necessary.

Laxus growled in anger and frustration. "You brat…! By the time I'm done with you, there'll be nothing left!" He raised his arms and charged both of them with an intense amount of magic.

Freed gasped. "Stop, Laxus! If you use it on Natsu right now…!"

Laxus ignored Freed and sent his attack. "Thunder Dragon Heavenward!" The spear of lightning approached Natsu at a frightening speed. Seeing that Natsu was in no condition to receive the hit, Lucy quickly moved and stood in front of the oncoming attack with a shield raised up. However, to her surprise, it suddenly changed its course of direction and disappeared. She followed the attack and saw Gajeel taking the force of the attack. He had attracted the lightning by using his Iron arm as a lightning rod. Lucy took this chance to teleport to Laxus and pressed her palms against his chest. Commanding her magic to gather at her arms, she sent it travelling down to her open palms and transferred it to a surprised Laxus. She quickly teleported away before Laxus could react and watched as her magic pulsed through his body, messing up his internal organs and causing him to throw up a pool of blood. His arms twitched involuntarily and his knees gave out beneath him due to his nerves not working properly.

Laxus snarled, directing his blood-shot eyes at Lucy. "You… What did you do?!"

She didn't reply. She mostly didn't use her magic in this way due to how dangerous and harmful it could be but she knew that Laxus was strong and would be able to endure this much.

Meanwhile, Natsu stared at Gajeel who he had considered to be intolerable just until a few moments ago. "Gajeel…" Natsu said in shock.

The Iron Dragon Slayer gritted his teeth in pain and gave Natsu a nod. "Go!"

Natsu's face hardened in determination and he nodded back. Laxus was getting angrier by the second as he slowly got to his feet once more. "Why you… why yoooouuuuu!"

The Fire Dragon yelled a battle cry before beginning his flurries of attacks. "Fire Dragon fist! Claw! Fire Dragon fist! Wing smash! Fire Dragon fist! Slicing horn! Fire Dragon fist! Crushing fangs! Fire Dragon fist! Crimson exploding flame blade!" Natsu delivered his final and ultimate attack and sent Laxus flying back with his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his mouth coughing up more blood. He rolled across the floor until he eventually came to a stop and lay motionless. Seeing that Laxus was no longer conscious and able to fight, Natsu slumped to the floor and threw his head back to yell out in victory.

Freed and Levy watched in shock, having witnessed the strongest mage in Fairy Tail being defeated by Natsu and Lucy. Gajeel merely smirked in satisfaction. Lucy helped Natsu to get to his feet by slinging his arm over her shoulder. She smiled at him, proud of his performance and his resolve to not give up. Together, they had defeated Laxus and protected their family. Lucy glanced at the defeated man. Despite everything that he has done, he was still part of her family and she did respect him for his strength. She just hoped that Laxus would be able to come back to his senses after this event. Because no matter how much the master tried to cover it up, she knew that he loved his grandson from the bottom of his heart.

000

The Fantasia was a huge success. Despite it having been postponed to the next day due to some difficulties, many people came to watch the parade and enjoyed the floats of different mages performing their magic. Lucy had spotted Laxus in the crowd and smiled when he cried as everyone put up their hands and raised their thumbs and forefinger. In that moment, Lucy caught a glimpse of the Laxus she knew. There was a huge firework display towards the end and the night ended on a good note for everybody.

Currently, they had just finished the parade and were getting ready to pack up. Lucy glanced at Erza who was talking happily with Mirajane.

As random as the thought may seem, she couldn't help but once again think that Erza was beautiful. Her smile was capable of lighting up a whole continent and her eyes were so expressive and kind when she was with her friends. She was determined and loved her friends from the bottom of her heart. She was strong yet somehow also weak at the same time. She struggled to let go of her past and she had her own demons to deal with but she didn't let it control her life. Erza was so very human and Lucy was completely in love with her. True, Erza was completely out of Lucy's league but she couldn't help the way she felt. Honestly, how could she have _not _fallen in love with Erza?

She remembered the day's events and replayed their interactions with a stupid grin on her face. Their conversations had been so natural and Lucy felt completely at ease when she was with Erza. Whenever the requip mage was by her side, Lucy felt invincible and truly content. There was always a warm, fuzzy feeling whenever Erza popped into her mind and her heart always beat faster when she spoke.

As she looked at Erza now, a sudden strong surge of determination entered her heart. "Hey Ria," she called out softy to her friend.

"Hm? What is it?"

"I think I'm going to confess to Erza-san."

Ria's eyes bulged in shock. "What, like now?!"

A soft wisp of a smile passed over Lucy's face. "Yeah."

Ria's expression softened in understanding. "Okay. Good luck. And make sure that you actually confess this time."

"I will. This time, I'm not going to run away," Lucy promised, determination burning in her eyes.

Truthfully, she had been thinking about this ever since the Tower of Heaven incident. Every time she had the opportunity to confess, she always chickened out, giving the excuse that it wasn't the right time. She was truly a coward and was afraid of exposing her feelings to Erza and possibly making their friendship awkward. But really, when was it ever the right time? She didn't want to repeat the same mistake all over again. As a thirteen year old, she had ran away from her feelings. She didn't want to be hurt so she had ran away like the coward she was. And the consequences of her actions had been severe and it had left her with many deep regrets. This time, she was determined not to repeat the same mistake. Even if she was going to be rejected, she was still going to confess her feelings. She was prepared for rejection and she was prepared to be friend-zoned. This time, she was going to confess and whatever the result was, she was going to accept it and respect Erza's feelings. Running away wasn't an option anymore.

Gathering her courage, she approached Erza and Mirajane. "Hello Erza-san, Mira-san," she greeted.

"Oh, hello Lucy!" Mirajane smiled warmly.

Erza also smiled. "Hello Lucy. Is there anything we can do for you?"

Lucy cursed silently in her head when she felt a blush invading her cheeks. Thankfully, it was dark outside so the blush wasn't noticeable. "Um… could I possibly talk to you alone for a minute, Erza-san? It won't take long," she said, feeling slightly nervous. _Please say yes, please say yes, _she chanted in her mind. She felt that if Erza refused to talk to her, she would lose all her nerve and never get around to confessing. Mirajane gave her this _look _and Lucy wondered if she had already figured out why she wanted to talk to Erza alone. Although, she supposed, she wasn't exactly being subtle here.

To her relief, Erza nodded. "Of course. Shall we go to a more private place?"

"Ur…yes, that would be great."

Silently, they walked to a secluded place where nobody else was around. They were standing on a grassy hill that sloped down to the river. Lucy swallowed, feeling a sense of déja-vu from back when she was thirteen. _Remember, this time, you're not going to run away. _

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Erza asked kindly.

_It's now or never. _Lucy took a deep breath and looked determinedly into the older girl's eyes. She was going to say her feelings and she was going to accept Erza's response, no matter what it may be. She just wanted to stop hiding her feelings. She was tired of constantly running away. Even if she got rejected, she would at least have some kind of closure and get a peace of mind. "I…" she started. Her palms were starting to become sweaty and her mouth was going dry. She knew that she was starting to get cold feet. She clenched her fists. _Don't make the same mistake as last time! _She closed her eyes for a moment to regain her composure. When her heart rate started to slow down, she opened them again. "This may come as a surprise but please know that what I'm about to say is me being one hundred percent honest and sincere," Lucy said.

Erza's frowned in confusion but nodded solemnly, letting Lucy know that she was listening. "Of course," she said.

Lucy nodded in gratitude. Then, she poured all her feelings into her expression and once again looked Erza in eyes. "I'm in you love with you, Erza-san. And before you can tell me that I'm confusing you with the Erza-san from Earth, I want to say that this is not true. Although it may have been true at first, I have come to realise that you are a completely different person but nonetheless, I have still fallen in love with you. I love you when you're protecting and looking after everyone in Fairy Tail, I love you when you're raging about not getting to eat your cake and I love you when you get really excited for small and insignificant things. I love you despite your past and your flaws and I also love you because of it. I love that you are so strong and kind but also insecure and vulnerable below it all. I love your smile, your hair, your voice, your mind, your determination, your kindness and your love for friends. In short, I am completely and utterly in love with you," Lucy finished passionately. She felt as if thousand years' worth of burden has been lifted from her shoulders. She felt liberated and free. Finally, she had said her feelings without holding back. Now, all that was left was to see Erza's reaction.

The requip mage for her part, had grown increasingly flustered during Lucy's passionate speech. Contrary to popular belief, Erza wasn't as dense as people made her out to be. She had noticed Lucy's affection towards her to some degree but she never mentioned it for she had no proof and didn't want to make incorrect assumptions if it turned out to be just her imagination. But now, she had proof. Lucy's feelings towards her was undeniable and it was up to Erza to now respond to her confession.

She carefully considered her own feelings towards the blonde mage as well as what everything Lucy had said. She wanted to respond to Lucy's confession as sincerely and truthfully as possible. If she didn't, she felt like it would be akin to spitting on the girl's feelings.

Did she like Lucy? Yes, of course she did. Lucy was loyal and kind to her friends and she was very thoughtful. She had helped Erza many times and although she hadn't known the girl for long compared to the others in the guild, there was an undeniably strong bond between them. However, no matter how much she dug into her feelings, Erza could not identify any feelings of romantic love for Lucy. It was with this realisation that she came to a dreaded conclusion: she would have to reject Lucy's confession. Although she was reluctant to hurt her friend, Erza knew that it would only hurt Lucy more if she lied about her feelings. Besides, the girl would see right through her anyway.

Erza swallowed and smiled at Lucy sadly. "I'm happy and honoured that you feel that way about me, I really am. You're a great person and anyone will be lucky to have you as their partner. However, I cannot return your feelings. I love you Lucy but only as a close friend. You and everyone else in the guild mean the world to me and I'm sorry that I'm hurting you by rejecting your feelings but this is how I truly feel. Once again, I'm really sorry."

Lucy closed her eyes and sighed. She had prepared for a rejection and had truthfully predicted that this would happen. She opened her eyes again and hid her bleeding heart behind her smile. "No, it's okay. Thank you for considering my feelings and I appreciate that you took me seriously and responded honestly in the same way. I just hope that I haven't made things too awkward between us."

Erza shook her head firmly and stepped forward. To Lucy's surprise, the requip mage pulled her into a gentle hug and rubbed her back in a soothing manner. "No, of course not. I won't forget the fact that you have feelings for me but it won't make things awkward at all. And please don't feel that you have to supress or hide your feelings for my sake. No matter what happens, we will always stay close friends," Erza promised.

_Ouch. Completely and uttered cemented into the friend-zone. _Although, she supposed she should be grateful that she was even getting Erza's acceptance and friendship. She shouldn't be too greedy.

Lucy leaned into the warm embrace and closed her eyes. _How could you do this to me after rejecting me, Erza-san? You're not being fair. _She chuckled. "You're going to regret saying that I don't have to supress my feelings once I start openly flirting with you."

She felt Erza freeze for a second before resuming her actions. "No, I won't. I never go back on my words."

"That's true."

They stayed like that for a few minutes but eventually, Erza let go and Lucy stepped back to put some space between them.

"Thank you Erza-san, you sure know how to properly reject someone," Lucy joked. "I feel so blessed."

When Erza didn't laugh or reply, Lucy dropped her act and sighed.

After a few minutes of suffocating silence, Erza attempted to break the awkward air and looked up at the night sky. "It's getting late so we should return to Fairy Hills."

Lucy shook her head. "I'm sorry. I think I'll stay here for a while longer. I'll see you tomorrow, Erza-san."

Erza stared at her for a moment with those piercing brown eyes and Lucy felt as if she was being read like an open book. After what seemed like an eternity, Erza nodded. "See you tomorrow," Erza said before walking away.

Once Lucy felt the older girl's presence fading away, she plopped down ungracefully onto the grass.

_What was I expecting anyway? _She thought to herself bitterly. Even though she had told herself that she was most likely going to be rejected, a small, traitorous part of her had foolishly hoped. She knew she shouldn't have, but her heart had won over the mind. But as always, it only led to a crushing disappointment – the consequence of falling after soaring too high and reaching for the impossible.

What was she even thinking? Had she truly thought even for a single second that she deserved someone like Erza Scarlet? The requip mage had made the right choice.

But even as she repeated this again and again inside her head, she couldn't help her heart from yearning. She couldn't stop her love for Erza and she couldn't stop herself from desiring. Lucy supposed that in the end, all humans were the same – they were greedy and wanted things they couldn't have. Although she had long abandoned her humanity, she was unfortunately not an exception to this rule.

With a heavy sigh, she stared up at the dark sky and hoped that the night breeze would somehow carry away her pain.

000

Meanwhile, Erza walked back to her dorm with a heavy heart. Even though Lucy had smiled and reassured that she would be okay, the requip mage couldn't help but feel a weight of guilt settle at the pit of her stomach. She wasn't stupid. She could clearly see that Lucy was hurt by the rejection. Nobody liked having their feelings unreciprocated. But as much as she hated seeing her dear friend in pain, she knew that it had to be done.

However, as much as Erza tried to reassure herself that she had made the right decision, she couldn't stop the doubts from surfacing in her mind.

Had she really done the right thing?

Was she too rash with her decision? Should she have thought it through more carefully before answering the confession?

Was she being selfish for wanting them to continue to stay friends?

Ridden by guilt, she had told Lucy that they would still continue to be friends just as normal in the heat of the moment. At the time, she had said this very confidently but now she wasn't so sure. Was it really possible for them to stay friends without things getting awkward? In fact, she wondered if she was hurting Lucy even more by inadvertently forcing the blond girl to remain as a close friend. Surely Erza would only serve as a constant reminder of the rejection.

_'No matter what happens, we will always stay close friends.' _She frowned as she recalled her own words. _'always stay close friends'_? She scolded herself for her terrible choice of wording. _Erza you idiot. Talk about rubbing the salt in the wound. _Since when had she become so insensitive?

Erza let out a frustrated groan. What was she supposed to do in a situation like this? Sure, she had gotten a confession from Simon at the resort hotel and she had let him down as gently as possible but she didn't remember feeling this conflicted over it. She supposed, the difference boiled down to the fact that Lucy was a close friend whom she was going to work with on a daily basis. She didn't want their relationship to become stiff because of this. Erza cherished their friendship too much to let something like this drift them apart.

However, as much as she tried, she couldn't bring herself to simply forget about Lucy's confession. That wasn't fair on the both of them. She respected and cared for Lucy and felt that her feelings deserved be acknowledged.

As she got ready for bed, she contemplated to option of going to Mirajane and asking for advice. Surely the take-over mage would know what to do.

For now, she would just have to do her best to reassure Lucy that nothing was going to change between them whilst still acknowledging that the other girl's feelings for her was there. The only thing left for her to do was to wait and see how things played out.

000

The night was getting colder but Lucy barely registered the change in the temperature. She continued to lie on the grass, drained of any energy or motivation to move. The stars above were twinkling brightly, oblivious to her suffering.

"Must be nice to be so carefree…" Lucy muttered. Just then, she heard the sound of footsteps and sensed a familiar presence approaching her.

"What must be so nice?" a sweet voice asked.

"The stars. They don't have to worry about anything," Lucy replied.

"Does that mean there's something _you're_ worried about?" Mirajane asked, sitting down on the grass next to Lucy. The blonde mage merely shrugged and went back to star gazing. After a moment of silence, Mirajane spoke up in a soft voice. "How did it go?"

Lucy didn't have to ask what she was talking about. "I was rejected," she said simply. She wasn't really in the mood for a pity party so she stated the facts just as they were. No sugar coating and no tone of misery. "Completely friend-zoned. I suppose I should be happy that I'm still allowed to be a friend."

Although Lucy said this in a casual tone, Mirajane knew that the blonde mage was hiding her true feelings behind a mask of indifference. "Lucy, you don't have to bottle up your feelings. It's okay to cry. It's not a sign of weakness," Mirajane said softly.

Lucy sighed. "I haven't cried ever since I killed my Shishou. I promised that I would never cry again and to be honest, I think I've already used up all my tears."

There was a comfortable silence between the two of them as they bathed in the moonlight together. It was only when Lucy began to speak again that the silence was broken.

"You know," she started softly with her eyes still fixed on the starts, "I was prepared for rejection. In fact, I knew that it was going to happen. I went in knowing the result but I chose to go through with it anyway. I fell in love with her despite knowing that she will always be out of my reach. I only have myself to blame."

"But that doesn't mean you're not hurt."

Maybe it was the gentle and soft tone of Mirajane's voice. Maybe it was just the comforting atmosphere provided by the beautiful night sky. Or maybe it was both. But whatever it was, Lucy felt something inside her finally break and soon, silent tears were running down her cheeks.

"I-" Lucy started but she found her voice too choked with emotion to come out properly. What the hell was wrong with her? Hadn't she promised that she wouldn't cry? But even as she mentally denied her weakness, her traitorous eyes continued to spill hot tears.

Mirajane gently lifted Lucy's head onto her lap and stroked her hair soothingly. "Shh… it's okay. Just let it all out."

The softly whispered words acted like a trigger. The dam inside Lucy broke down and she dropped her guard, no longer resisting her tears.

"Why does it hurt so much, Mira-san? Even though I was prepared, even though I knew what was going to happen and strengthened my heart, why does it still hurt so damn much?" Lucy demanded through her tears. She raised her right arm and placed it over her eyes, not wanting her friend to see her in such a pathetic state.

"I don't know, Lucy," Mirajane said sadly. "I don't know." She continued to stroke Lucy's hair and the blond mage wondered if this was what it felt like to have a caring older sister. For the first time in ages, Lucy allowed herself to be vulnerable and she allowed herself to be comforted by another. Once she was done crying, Mirajane stopped her motions and simply let Lucy continue to rest on her lap.

"How long do you think it will take for me to get over her and let her go?" Lucy asked quietly.

"I don't know, that all depends on you, Lucy. Do you think you're ever going to get over her?" Mirajane asked.

Lucy didn't have to answer that question. They both knew the answer. She let out a sigh and smiled miserably. "I'm so hopeless aren't I?"

Mirajane shook her head. "No, you're not hopeless. You're just in love."

"Love…huh?" Lucy muttered. "If I knew it was going to hurt so much, I wouldn't have fallen in love in the first place."

Lucy closed her eyes and felt the warmth and comfort provided by Mirajane. For once, she felt sleep beckoning her and her consciousness began to fade away. "Can we just stay like this for a while longer?" she requested.

Mirajane smiled gently. "Of course. We can stay as long as you want."

"Thank you," Lucy mumbled before falling asleep, hoping that at least in her dreams, she would be able to escape the truth of reality even if only for a short amount of time.

* * *

**Time for the replies:**

**HinoteRaion: **Welp, here is the romangst that you've been waiting for. Hope it didn't disappoint. I'm not sure if I did a good job at putting across what the characters were feeling. Thanks for always commenting and following my story, I really appreciate it. I feel that I've ended the chapter on a satisfying note but i suppose for some, it may feel more like a cliffhanger. I hope that the lack of romance isn't annoying because I felt that it was more realistic for Erza to reject Lucy at this point. I want to take my time and develop their relationship as well as each of them as individuals. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Caramellatte560: **Aww... thanks. I never imagined that this story would receive so much love when I first started writing this. (This is one of my first ever fanfics and I was - and still am - such an amateur at writing.) In regards to Erza x Lucy development, you may feel that things have made a turn for the worse but I believe that this is where things really start to develop. Thanks for hanging around.

**Gnarled Bone: **Haha, I know how it feels like to have an annoying sibling. Though I don't think mine is as annoying as you made yours out to be. And wow, for the fourth time? I applaud your dedication. Thank you for taking your time to review. It gives me so much strength.

**KaixinPhoenix: **Thank you! And i don't think my ideas are that amazing? Compared to other writers, I still have a long way to go. But if I can bring even the slightest bit of happiness in other people such as you through my writing, then I will happily continue to write.

**KiiroNoKitsune: **More to come :) Things are picking up.

**Guest (Y.Z.): **Haha, thank you for your supportive words. To be honest, before this story, I have never written anything like this, much less had experience in fight scenes. Even now, I find fight scenes so hard to write, I don't know how other people do it. But I'm glad that you don't think it sucks. And I'm also glad you like slowburn but I'm pretty sure even you will get tired of the slow pace at some point. XD

**shiroyuina: **Thank you and yes, they are getting closer. Although it may not seem that way right now.

**Person of no interest: **I feel like Lucy's character in this story just kind of grew by itself. As I wrote, she just turned out this way and I can no longer change anything XD And I hope you love slowburns enough to stick with this story. Because this is going to be slow. But it won't be too painful. I hope. :)

**I've had this confession scene planned out in my head for ages. I hope that it was executed adequately and I was able to convey the characters' feelings correctly. What did you think? Any feedback and constructive criticism always appreciated. Thank you for reading. **


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